Now where was I? Oh, yes, I'm on "D" for Dressings!

DRESSINGS!
You can buy dozens of bottled dressings & they will last for months in your frig because they are filled with preservatives. That's okay, really.
Or you can make a few homemade ones & compare... see which flavors you like the most!

I LOVE to mix these in my Measure Mix 'n Pour from The Pampered Chef.
The jar has the recipes right on the side & the top has a built in whisk so you can mix them
since the ingredients separate. The dressings from a store have chemicals that act as stabilizers so they don't separate so much. As far as ingredients go, I've never really WANTED to add stabilizers to anything.

Here are a few of my favorite homemade ones:

Asian Dressing
1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 t. ground ginger (or if you are feeling adventurous) a 1/2" wide peeled piece of fresh ginger pressed through a Pampered Chef garlic press (much better flavor with the fresh ginger!)
1 clove of fresh garlic, pressed through a Pampered Chef garlic press
2 T orange juice, mandarin orange juice or Sunny D (Add the mandarin oranges to a salad.)
Mix well before serving.
This dressing is outstanding not only on salad but also on baked potatoes & used as a marinade for chicken or beef.

Italian Dressing
1/4 cup of vinegar (my favorites are balsamic, red wine or raspberry)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 T. Italian Seasoning (my favorites are McCormick or Pampered Chef)
1 T. granulated sugar

Avocado Vinegarette
1/4 cup vinegar (see my list of vinegar faves above)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 T. Italian Seasoning
1 T. sugar
1 T. fresh lemon or lime juice
1 ripe avocado mashed & whisked into the liquid ingredients
(Go back to my blog entry on Tuesday Sept 15th, 2009 for avocado info!)

Once you have whisked a dressing together, pour it into a clean recycled glass jar with a secure lid. Label it with masking tape & a sharpie with the name of the dressing & the date you made it & refrigerate.
The avocado one will last a few days because the avocado is very perishable but the others will last a month or more.

Here's a GREAT WAY to serve salad to please the pickiest of salad eaters:
Serve your salad on a large platter or large shallow bowl. Put the greens in the center & then put the other veggies around the edges. Have all the tomatoes together in a clump then next to them put all the broccoli in a clump then the shredded carrots together, then the bell peppers, onions, shredded cheese, etc. Alternate the colors of your add-ins around the edge so all the greens are separated by the reds & oranges.

This way those poor folks who don't like all those veggies can pick & choose what they want in their salad & you (maybe you are like me?) can have some of everything. No more little pile of peppers left on the plate & wasted because everything was initially mixed together. (Hi Mom.)

And did I mention how PRETTY it is to serve it this way?? It is SO pretty!