Tomatoes and sweet onion with Roquefort dressing is a traditional Italian salad that easily lends itself well to Italian meals such as Osso Bucco and to lighter meals such as salad and Minestrone soup. Popular Italian restaurants such as Olive Garden serve similar meals of soup and salad.
Salad dressings are typically rich, creamy and loaded with fat or, if the fat is reduced or eliminated it has little taste. If you have relied on creamy dressings for your salad you might consider an oil and vinegar dressing.
Here’s my recipe and, if I say so myself, it’s as good as the restaurant salad. To cut down on calories I dressed the salad lightly. If you want more double the salad dressing recipe. You may bring this salad to a picnic as long as you keep the ingredients cold. For an even heartier salad add some grilled chicken or steak. This salad tastes like a BLT sandwich without the bread. Make a lot because your family will gobble it up!
SPINACH SALAD WITH MANDARIN ORANGES AND CANDIED WALNUTS
1 10-ounce bag of fresh spinach
2 6.1-ounce can of Mandarin oranges, drained
3 thin slices of red onion, separated into rings
4 raspberry salad dressing (recipe below)
5 candied walnuts (recipe below)
Tip from your Wellness Coach: But hold on. Before you dump half a bottle of full fat salad dressing on your Romaine, remember to keep your daily total caloric needs in mind. Make your salad dressing with good quality extra-virgin olive oil or use a no-fat dressing and add avocados, which are high in minerals and mono-unsaturated (good) fat.
Mustard Dressings
Replace the vinegar with mustard and you’re on your way. Chinese mustard is a great match for sesame oil, honey and pineapple in a dressing. Green peppercorn mustard goes beautifully with olive oil and garlic. French’s mustard or Grey Poupon can be blended with mango and hot pepper. Again, you can turn to your cookbooks and look for main course recipes that use mustard and just combine the same ingredients in your blender.
In creamy dressings, the emulsifier often is sour cream or mayonnaise (and sometimes oil, too). Providing a healthy option for these ingredients is an easy fix.
Thin with hot water, a tablespoon at a time, just so the mixture can be spooned. It will thin further when tossed with tomatoes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Toss onion, tomatoes and parsley with dressing. Taste, adjust the seasonings and serve. Yield: 4 servings.
Measure the quantity. It’s all very well making your own delicious, additive-free dressing, but that’s not an excuse for sloshing it on with an over-liberal hand. One tbsp of oil-based dressing could add up to 80 calories to your salad, so aim for a light drizzle, rather than pouring it on with abandon.
The amounts in this recipe are for 60 people. If you want less divide the recipe.
You can take this basic recipe and come up with a delicious dressing to suit your taste. Try replacing the salt with paprika or chili powder for a spicier dressing. Let your imagination run wild!
Read About Celebrity Gossips Also Read About How To Prepare Upma and Sabudana Khichdi Receipe
Tags: french salad dressing recipe, garlic salad dressing, how to prepare yummy salad dressings, oil free french dressing
