Super-Simple Salad Dressings

One thing I strongly encourage my family to eat is salad. I love salad, and as luck would have it, my two oldest boys do too! My hubby not so much, although he will occasionally eat an Italian-style chopped salad.

One way I keep salad interesting for my family is by using a wide variety of veggies/fruit/nuts and salad dressings. I prefer to make my own dressings, as the commercial salad dressings in the supermarket are full of undesirable ingreedients such as hydrogenated fats, high-fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors and dyes.

I've included here a few of my favorite salad dressing recipes:

Classic Italian Salad Dressing (makes about 1/2 quart)

1 c. extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 c. fresh lemon juice

3-4 cloves minced garlic

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper

1 tbsp. Italian seasoning mix

Combine all ingredients in a jar with a lid; secure lid tightly and shake vigorously until well-combined. Store in jar in fridge for up to one month.

Poppyseed Dressing (this is my personal favorite...great on sliced avacado!)

1 c. mayonaise

2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar, raw with the mother if possible

3 tbsp. dijon mustard

4 tbsp. poppyseeds

1 minced garlic clove

Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl; whisk rapidly until well-combined. Stores in the fridge covered for up to two weeks.

Mandarin-Sesame Dressing

2 tbsp. sesame oil

1 c. extra-virgin olive oil

2 minced garlic cloves

2 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

1 tbsp. rice wine vinegar

juice of 3 small mandarin oranges, roughly 1/4 cup

pinch of ground ginger

Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl; whisk rapidly until well-combined. Best if used immediately.