Recipes for Homemade Salad Dressings

[doddsgirl]

I was just planning to start a new topic to see if anybody had a homeade alternative to Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing.

I found two recipes for ranch dressing on the internet a few years ago and tweaked them to make one recipe our family and friends love.  Now my friends also use this in place of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing for salads and veggie dipping.  I use light all-natural sour cream and either non-fat buttermilk or sour milk made with skim milk.  It keeps for a couple of weeks or more but a batch of this doesn't last a week in our home.  My children now eat raw veggies like crazy since i started making this dressing.  A little bit goes a long way because it's so thick.

1 c. mayonnaise
1/2 c. all-natural sour cream
1/2 c. non-fat buttermilk or 1/2 c. sour milk
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
1 t. dill weed
1 1/2 t. parsley flakes
1/2 to 1 t. salt (to taste)
1/8 to 1/4 t. ground pepper (to taste)

Place all ingredients in small bowl and whisk until completely blended.  Adjust seasonings to taste.  Refrigerate for at least 4 hours to allow dressing to thicken and flavors to blend.  Use on salads or as a dip for veggies.

Note: to make sour milk, put 1 1/2 t. lemon juice in glass measuring cup.  Add enough milk to make 1/2 cup.  Let sit for five minutes before adding to mayo and sour cream.




this may be a dumb question but can you make sour milk with rice milk? 
thanks! rhonda

[zmama]

I was just planning to start a new topic to see if anybody had a homeade alternative to Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing.

I found two recipes for ranch dressing on the internet a few years ago and tweaked them to make one recipe our family and friends love.  Now my friends also use this in place of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing for salads and veggie dipping.  I use light all-natural sour cream and either non-fat buttermilk or sour milk made with skim milk.  It keeps for a couple of weeks or more but a batch of this doesn't last a week in our home.  My children now eat raw veggies like crazy since i started making this dressing.  A little bit goes a long way because it's so thick.

1 c. mayonnaise
1/2 c. all-natural sour cream
1/2 c. non-fat buttermilk or 1/2 c. sour milk
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
1 t. dill weed
1 1/2 t. parsley flakes
1/2 to 1 t. salt (to taste)
1/8 to 1/4 t. ground pepper (to taste)

Place all ingredients in small bowl and whisk until completely blended.  Adjust seasonings to taste.  Refrigerate for at least 4 hours to allow dressing to thicken and flavors to blend.  Use on salads or as a dip for veggies.

Note: to make sour milk, put 1 1/2 t. lemon juice in glass measuring cup.  Add enough milk to make 1/2 cup.  Let sit for five minutes before adding to mayo and sour cream.




this may be a dumb question but can you make sour milk with rice milk? 
thanks! rhonda

  Not a dumb question--this is a wellness website and I assumed when I posted that recipe that some would want to substitute for regular milk.  I don't use rice milk so I looked it up in a couple of places online and one woman said that she substitutes sour rice milk for regular milk in baking so I see no reason why it could not be done for the dressing.  Or you could just add straight rice milk without souring it first.  I honestly don't think it needs to be sour but the lemon juice of sour milk or the acidic (?) nature of buttermilk does give the dressing a little added "punch" of flavor.  I don't believe it alters the outcome of the dressing to leave out the lemon juice like it would a baked item, let's put it that way.  Hope that helps.

[doddsgirl]

yay! thanks! i haven't had ranch dressing since i cut out soy last year. so i hope to try this with safflower mayo and rice milk. can't wait!
rhonda

[zmama]

yay! thanks! i haven't had ranch dressing since i cut out soy last year. so i hope to try this with safflower mayo and rice milk. can't wait!
rhonda

Sounds good...please post a thumbs up or down once you make it.   I'm interested to know how it tastes with the safflower may and rice milk.

[here2serve]

 Do any of you ladies have a good, creamy ceaser dressing recipes? I have tried some in the past and never found one that I really liked. They were all too oily, or something...
       Thanks,   ~A

[here2serve]

  Anybody??

[stebs7]

I don't know if this would be what you are looking for  - but I love this homemade recipe a friend gave me years ago - I make it all the time.

However, I will give you basic amounts and you will need to play with it - I do it just by pouring and saying, I guess that's good!

Don't even have a name for it.


I pour this all into a quart jar and whatever is left over, stays in the fridge and I throw some lettuce in a bowl and just eat one everyday.  Or my kids take bread and sop it up and eat it that way!


1/4 (of a quart)  extra virgin olive oil
1/5 (or less)  Kikkoman soy sauce
                   Balsamic vinegar to taste  (maybe 3 T or more)
                   and/or lemon
1/3 natural jogurt or more
couple cloves crushed garlic
pepper (not too much)
dill weed (my favorite) 
 OR
oregano and/or basil (not too much - flavor is great even without these)

mix and refrigerate for 30 minutes but better more- next day its even better!

If it doesn't taste just right, play with it - I can't figure out how to write a recipe when I don't use one for this

Blessings, Nancy in POland

[Leah IL]

This is not exactly caesar because it has no anchovy paste in it, but you could add it:

1 1/2 cups olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 T vinegar
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
3 T sour cream
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
4 cloves garlic

Put everything in the blender and blend until smooth.  The original recipe had a little mustard powder in there, too, but I never like the taste of it so I left it out.  This is our favorite salad dressing.

VARIATION:

Omit the parmesan cheese and use 1/2 cup ground flaxseed.  I did this when I ran out of parmesan and we love it!!!

[burlsgirl]

This is not exactly caesar because it has no anchovy paste in it, but you could add it:

1 1/2 cups olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 T vinegar
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
3 T sour cream
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
4 cloves garlic

Put everything in the blender and blend until smooth.  The original recipe had a little mustard powder in there, too, but I never like the taste of it so I left it out.  This is our favorite salad dressing.

VARIATION:

Omit the parmesan cheese and use 1/2 cup ground flaxseed.  I did this when I ran out of parmesan and we love it!!!

That sounds great! I wish I'd known it one day earlier. I'm on a Caesar salad kick, and I just bought a whole jar of Caldini's yesterday. Oh, well, I'll try this next time!

[burlsgirl]

Ok, I confess that I "found" this recipe by accident, as it was originally supposed to be a dip for something else...but, I didn't drain the tomatoes, so now I have a yummy dressing that is very similar to, but WAY BETTER THAN, Ranch...

1 block cream cheese, softened
1 c. sour cream
1 can Rotel tomatoes UNdrained
Handful chopped cilantro (fresh)...I would guess 1 TBS dried
minced garlic
onion powder (optional)
Salt (a good bit)

Blend & chill. I'm eating it w/ carrots right now & it's SO good.

[mom24boys]

I was just planning to start a new topic to see if anybody had a homeade alternative to Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing.

I found two recipes for ranch dressing on the internet a few years ago and tweaked them to make one recipe our family and friends love.  Now my friends also use this in place of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing for salads and veggie dipping.  I use light all-natural sour cream and either non-fat buttermilk or sour milk made with skim milk.  It keeps for a couple of weeks or more but a batch of this doesn't last a week in our home.  My children now eat raw veggies like crazy since i started making this dressing.  A little bit goes a long way because it's so thick.

1 c. mayonnaise
1/2 c. all-natural sour cream
1/2 c. non-fat buttermilk or 1/2 c. sour milk
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
1 t. dill weed
1 1/2 t. parsley flakes
1/2 to 1 t. salt (to taste)
1/8 to 1/4 t. ground pepper (to taste)

Place all ingredients in small bowl and whisk until completely blended.  Adjust seasonings to taste.  Refrigerate for at least 4 hours to allow dressing to thicken and flavors to blend.  Use on salads or as a dip for veggies.

Note: to make sour milk, put 1 1/2 t. lemon juice in glass measuring cup.  Add enough milk to make 1/2 cup.  Let sit for five minutes before adding to mayo and sour cream.




this may be a dumb question but can you make sour milk with rice milk? 
thanks! rhonda

  Not a dumb question--this is a wellness website and I assumed when I posted that recipe that some would want to substitute for regular milk.  I don't use rice milk so I looked it up in a couple of places online and one woman said that she substitutes sour rice milk for regular milk in baking so I see no reason why it could not be done for the dressing.  Or you could just add straight rice milk without souring it first.  I honestly don't think it needs to be sour but the lemon juice of sour milk or the acidic (?) nature of buttermilk does give the dressing a little added "punch" of flavor.  I don't believe it alters the outcome of the dressing to leave out the lemon juice like it would a baked item, let's put it that way.  Hope that helps.

Actually, the acidulated milk (soured or soured with lemon juice or vinegar or just buttermilk) is what causes the dressing to thicken.

Of course, you could leave it out and sometimes the sour cream will thicken it or you could just have it thin.

[healthybratt]

Healthy Vinaigrette (alkaline-forming, yeast-fighting)

1/2 C raw, organic, unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)
1/3 C organic Flaxseed Oil, Olive Oil, or Udo’s Choice Oil (I used Pumpkin Seed Oil and it was delicious)
1 tsp Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (I used Soy Sauce)
2 tsp Xylitol or 4 drops Stevia (use Honey if not worried about yeast or body acidity) (I used honey)
2 cloves minced Garlic
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

from http://pennythoughts.wordpress.com/2007/09/16/healthy-salad-dressing-recipes/

[Number18]

I like a raspberry vinaigrette which I mix in the mini food processor.  It's just red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and frozen raspberries.  I don't know the amounts; I don't use recipes.  I mix it fresh each time.  Sometimes I also add mandarin oranges and walnuts if I have them.

Oh~ I wish you know the measurements, I would love to try this recipe!!!  hint hint

[BettaGurl3]

This recipe is reallly good!! Yum! And healthy!

"If the Sun were Green" from the Rejuvenate your Life cookbook

1c.extra virgin olive oil

2 big dates or 2TBS. of honey
 
1 whole bunch of Italian parsley or cilantro (  Optional: cut a couple of inches off the stem and save for juicing.)

4TBS. Nama Shoyu ( organic soy sauce)

Loads of fresh cracked pepper

3 cloves of garlic

1 1/2tsp. sea salt

3/4c. fresh lemon juice

2TBS. purified water

Blend the above ingredients in the blender until smooth. Enjoy!

[hgreening]

This is a great ranch recipe. I just wanted to add that I omit the buttermilk and mayo and use kefir and plain yogurt instead. If my family wants  it extra thick to use as a dip instead of a salad dressing I also add about 1/8-1/4 tsp zanthum gum. I keep a container of it freshly made in the frig at all times! yummy!