Salad dressing ideas

[Concerned]

How does everyone manage to eat salad without oil in their dressing? What are some suggestions for homemade salad dressings that are vegan and fat and vinegar free?
Thanks!

[walker1]

Concerned,
I use balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, or both. Sometimes, I buy a bottle of fat-free dressing in the grocery store. (Even if it says fat-free, be sure to check the ingredients to make sure that oil is not listed.)

Also, you can find some ideas on this thread: http://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10225

Nancy

[Clary]

How does everyone manage to eat salad without oil in their dressing? What are some suggestions for homemade salad dressings that are vegan and fat and vinegar free?
Thanks!

Vinegar is permitted on the McDougall Program. Do you need to avoid vinegar for a personal reason or preference?

[Concerned]

Thanks for the reply. Vinegar does not agree with me so I try to avoid it. Maybe I'll try the lemon juice.

[walker1]

I thought of two more ideas...

--Add grapefruit sections to a salad. (Maybe orange would work too?)

--defrost a bag of frozen raspberries. Pour the raspberries and the juice over the salad.

[aussie]

THis one is fantastic (if you like garlic) - Very Benevolent Caesar Salad in the December 2007 McD newsletter. Everyone loves it.

[nomikins]

My DH and I have weaned ourselves off of salad dressings. If a salad is made with fresh ingredients, dressing is simply not needed. Think of it this way: why cover up the taste of the delicous veggies, beans, fruit, etc.? The flavor combinations make themselves as one chews. Give it a try, you may grow to really like it as much as we do. This is coming from a gal who used to really love ranch dressing!

[mairead11]

Sometimes, I thin down some MWL hummus with a little water. And it's like having a creamy dressing. Kind of.

[MaryD]

Mary has a recipe in there--"oriental salad dressing" that is very good.

[marybeth0051]

I use 1 Tbsp if Instant Clear Jel added to 1 cup of water....stir this and it turns into a thick water. Just use this in place of any oil in a recipe....and you will NOT know the difference!! 10 times better than any store bought stuff.

[Concerned]

Thank you to everyone for the replies.
To marybethoo51: Do you mean (unflavored) gelatin?

[serenity]

Thank you to everyone for the replies.
To marybethoo51: Do you mean (unflavored) gelatin?

I think she was referring to this:
http://recipes.wikia.com/wiki/Instant_Clearjel%C2%AE

I thought it was just for jams, but I see it has other uses. According to this article, it will freeze and thaw well unlike some other thickeners. That info may come in handy since I like to freeze leftovers. Good to know; I'll have to find some and give it a try.

[jamietwo]

When I have homegrown tomatoes, I absolutely love my salad when the juice from my chopped tomato (that I put in my salad) mixes with the lemon juice that I squeeze over it!

I just made something like a honey mustard sauce for the stir "fry" I made for my child. It could easily be made into a salad dressing. But I don't know if you use sweeteners or if mustard contains vinegar.

[Ruth]

I recently checked out Caldwell Esselstyn's book (Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease) from the library, and it has some delicious-sounding dressings. Haven't tried them yet, but I will! The one that sounds best is simply to take no-tahini hummus and mix it with balsamic vinegar.

[talkingmountain]

I LOVE the dressings in Esselstyn's book. The 3-2-1 dressing is the family favorite, and super easy to make. (3 parts balsamic vinegar, 2 parts mustard, 1 part maple syrup. I often add some ground ginger, white pepper, & thyme, too).

I add about 1/2 to 1 tsp of any handy thickener to a cup of dressing and shake the dressing up. That gives it a nice "body" and it actually sticks to the salad better than oily dressings.

Xanthan gum, guar gum, corn starch, arrowroot powder, agar-agar, etc all work. Grocers & health food stores will have these. My favorite is actually a packaged product called "Thick-n-Thin Not Starch" thickener, which is a mixture of several of the above plus carob root powder; it works with hot or cold liquids, and freezes well too. Bought it online from a low-carb (for real!) store.