How to Make Salad Dressings With a Blender

It seems healthy enough. An assortment of fresh vegetables...leafy lettuce, crunchy carrots and tangy tomatoes full of vitamins and minerals to keep your diet on track. But what follows? Calories, fat and preservatives take over the plate in the form of salad dressing. That healthy meal, and your diet, head right out the window. But, with just a few simple steps and the aid of your blender, you can easily make your own salad dressings right at home.

Why Make Your Own?
Bottled salad dressings are chock full of calories, fat and preservatives. Ranch, Caesar and Blue Cheese, some of the most popular choices, are often mayonnaise or cream-based, and with that comes saturated fats and cholesterol. Certainly not a weight or hearty-healthy option. Add to that the fact that most consumers pour on well over the two tablespoon serving, and the numbers on the side of the bottle, and your waistline, rise up even further. Spooning on some of the good stuff can also cover your smart, organic, whole-food lunch with a processed, factory-made product.
By making your own salad dressing at home with a blender, you are in control of the flavor, fat content, and origins of your ingredients.

How Do I Make Salad Dressing?
Making your own delicious and nutritious salad dressings from scratch at home is simple. One of the easiest and tastiest dressings, the vinaigrette, needs nothing more than your blender, and oil and vinegar in a three to one ratio: three parts oil, one part vinegar. Add your ingredients to the blender and blend on medium until well mixed. That's it.

Creating Your Own Recipes
Now that you have the formula down, you can play with the ingredients until you find your own perfect recipe. Traditional salad oil is always an option, but you can also try a good extra virgin olive oil, or even a delicious walnut or hazelnut oil to add delicate flavor to your finished dressing. The vinegar you choose can also add layers of flavor. Balsamic is always a terrific option, but perhaps try a rice wine vinegar for an Asian kick, or cider vinegar to add some fruity undertones. If you like, also add fresh herbs, veggies or juices. The possibilities are endless.

In a just a few simple steps, you can create a homemade dressing that not only keeps your healthy lifestyle in line, but tastes delicious too.

This article was written by the creator of Blender.co.uk which is a resource for consumers interested in buying a food blender to help with their home cooking. The info is completely free and no sign-up is required.

Beat The Boring Salad Blahs With Zesty Buttermilk Dressings

Buttermilk may be an acquired taste for drinking, but as a base for low calorie salad dressings it's a star. Tart, tangy, smooth and creamy, it adds the perfect finish to greens, vegetables, and more.

Buttermilk sounds like it would be a rich, high-fat, high-calorie product, but the name is misleading. There is no butter in buttermilk; traditionally, buttermilk was the liquid left over when cream was churned into butter. Modern buttermilk is a cultured product, created by adding a lactic acid bacteria culture to skim or non-fat milk and letting the mixture ferment for 12 to 14 hours.

The taste of buttermilk is pleasantly tangy, somewhat like yogurt or sour cream. The texture is thicker than regular milk, which makes it a perfect base for creamy sauces and dressings, and the diet-friendly calorie and fat counts (less than 100 calories and 2 grams of fat per cup) make it a natural for low calorie salad dressings.

If you're in the mood for a buttermilk-based dressing but have none on hand, you can even make your own. Adding one tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to a cup of milk will create a very usable substitute, as will adding two teaspoons of cream of tartar to a cup of milk. In most recipes you can also substitute an equal measure of plain yogurt for buttermilk.

One of the best things about buttermilk-based salad dressing is its adaptability. The Basic Buttermilk Dressing is great on its own, but some simple add-ins can change the flavor entirely.

Basic Buttermilk Low Calorie Salad Dressing

1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk1 tablespoon vinegar1/2 teaspoon sugar2 teaspoons mustardSalt and pepper to taste

Enhance with Add-ins: Try adding the following, alone or in combination to your personal taste. But don't stop with this list - let your imagination be your guide!

1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed1/2 to 1 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce1/2 to 1 teaspoon garlic powder1/2 to 1 teaspoon onion powder1 tablespoon dried chives1 teaspoon oregano or Italian seasoning

Make it Cheesy: reduce the buttermilk to a quarter cup and add a half cup of low-fat cottage cheese, a tablespoon of minced onion, and a teaspoon of garlic powder. Process in blender till smooth.

Greek Cucumber: increase buttermilk to one cup and add 1/4 cup finely grated cucumber, 2-3 minced green onions, and 1/4 teaspoon dried dill. Substitute 2 teaspoons of lemon juice for the vinegar in the basic recipe.

Remember, eating healthy doesn't mean giving up the foods you love - even sweet treats can be part of a sensible food plan. Visit Eat Healthy for all kinds of low sugar and sugar free goodies - cookies, cakes, desserts, and even candy for diabetics!