Hey Guys,

Man….I’ve been trying to type this post for a couple of weeks, but it’s been busy over here. This is Babydolls final year of high school and there has been a lot of things going on in preparation of her being around for another year. I have been telling her since she was in middle school that she should go away for college and she has taken that to heart. If you follow me on Instagram, you saw that last week we were in DC to tour some colleges. Two she liked, one she did not. Of the two she liked, I’m hoping she gets accepted and chooses one of them (I was a student there l, so I really want her to attend there). She has received a few acceptance letters so far, but she will most likely not make a final decision until the May deadline. I’m thinking of having a huge celebration similar to an athlete making their college decision. I know I sound extra, but her decision will be close to her 18th birthday, so we should be extra.

Okay…this post is about making homemade salad dressing. I eat a salad just about everyday….at least 4-5 day a week. Along with my mixed greens (I’m not just a romaine lettuce girl, I love arugala, baby kale, swish chard, the spring mix, and spinach), I like to have a really good salad dressing that is also on the healthy side. Last year, I fell in love with a salad dressing by Marie’s that was a Meyer Lemon and Basil. They stopped making it! 😦 I was devastated. I have tried to make something similar, but have had no success. If you know of a good recipe, please leave it in the comments below.

What I have been making is dressing that is made with flavored vinegar’s. There is a store in Chicago that I have bought flavored balsamic vinegar’s from, but I haven’t been there in a minute and I needed something now. After searching most stores here in the city and checking out some places that I thought would have flavored vinegar’s but I was not successful until I went to Kroger. These are the vinegar’s that I found that I use to make my salad vinaigrette.

My favorite dressing at the moment is made with the Mango vinegar with a smidge of dijon mustard, salt, pepper, a little of monkfruit for sweetness and olive oil. I mix the everything but the olive oil in my bottle that I purchased from IKEA first by shaking it up. Then I add my olive oil, then shake again to emulsify everything. I can pour it over my salad and it is a whole vibe. It is so good.

I love drizzling it over the this salad below. It is made with a spinach and arugula mix lettuce mix, thinly sliced pear (from my pear tree), blue cheese crumbles, candied nuts, and maybe bacon if I’m feeling extra but I can take it without the bacon. It is SO GOOD.

When I want something creamy, I reach for plain greek yogurt. I made a dressing for my club salad with half and half, plain greek yogurt, and I used the Brady Street seasoning.

I purchased Brady Street seasoning from Penzey Spices, they have something similar at the Spice House in Chicago that is called Taylor Street seasoning. You can order either seasoning online from their prospective companies. Both are really good.

This was the salad that I fixed myself for lunch one day when I was working from home. It was my version of a cobb salad. When I made this dressing, I don’t think I put enough half and half in the mix, because when I stored it in the fridge, it got really think and I had to run it under hot water to loosen it up. Most of the time when I make my dressing, I’m eyeballing it, so it is a learning process.

I’m really loving making my own salad dressings, I think this will by my thing for the forseeable future. I would love to figure out how to make that lemon basil creamy dressing that would put me in the mind of Marie’s. The only salad dressing that I will not be making is Caesar. That is something that I will leave to Ken’s Steakhouse dressing for.

What salad dressings are you using or if you are making your own, what recipes would you suggest? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks so much for stopping by. If you have subscribed, thanks so much I’m hoping to have new posts forthcoming soon.

Until next time,