Salad dressings
I felt this blog needed a bit of an upgrade with a few new features. I now have a proper About page, as well as a Recipe Index. I invite you to check them out using the links on the sidebar.
When I was indexing all the recipes, I realized how little I post about salad, even though it is my staple lunch item when I'm at work. I find it easy to compose a salad, especially when the dressings are waiting in my little bar fridge at work.
Throw together a few different types of leaves, a sliced apple and carrot, a few pecans, some feta and dried cranberries and you have a healthy and filling lunch. The ingredients vary slightly from day to day with different nuts, hard-boiled eggs, sometimes sliced cucumber, sometimes small broccoli florets. But the basic structure is always the same: leaves, veg, fruit and some kind of protein.
Here are two of my favourite salad dressings. Both last a couple of weeks in my bar fridge and enable me to stay motivated to eat healthy at work.
Maple-Balsamic Dressing
If you use the ratio method for this dressing, you can make as much or as little as you like. I usually make enough to fill two-thirds of a small glass jar. It's easy to shake and store.
- add equal parts balsamic vinegar, maple syrup and olive oil into a tightly-lidded container
- crank in some freshly-ground pepper & sprinkle in a tiny bit of salt
- shake, taste, then modify the taste by adding more vinegar, syrup or oil depending on your personal taste
Low-Fat Creamy Goat Cheese Herb Dressing
This makes a lot of dressing. You may wish to cut the recipe in half if you don't plan to eat salad every day for a week and a half.
- 1/2 - 1 cup of plain yogurt, depending on how flow-y you want the dressing
- 1/2 cup goat cheese
- 1/2 block of soft silken tofu (about 6 oz by weight)
- lemon zest from 1/2 a lemon
- a few glugs of olive oil, for body (I typically use 2 tbsp, but you can use less or more)
- 1/3 cup sundried tomatos, either packed in oil, or if dried, reconstitute in hot water first
- 1/2 cup chopped herbs: parsley, oregano & thyme all work well
- a healthy amount salt & pepper since the tofu is essentially tasteless
Process everything in a food processor. Modify the taste according to your preference. I find the goat cheese fairly acidic, so that's why I like to use the olive oil to contrast this. If you like it even more acidic, feel free to add some lemon juice. This dressing is fairly creamy. If it's too thick for you, you can add more yogurt or even some water to thin it out.
If I'm getting tired of this dressing, I drain the excess liquid by placing it in a coffee filter in a sieve over a bowl. The resulting thick "yogurt cheese" is a perfect spread for bread or crackers.