I threw out all my full fat dressings and now I need ideas of new lower cal ones to buy. What's the best brand? What's your fav? Any simple home-made ones are welcome, too.
Thanks
P.S- I want to experiment making a very low calorie ranch dressing using the dry ranch packets. Would you all suggest trying fat free plain yogurt or fat free sour cream with the mix? What do you think would taste better? I wonder which one is lower in calories.
Otherwise, I just use oil and vinegar. If I'm out at a restaurant, sometimes I'll order a side of salsa to use as salad dressing. Salsa is good on a baked potato too.
I found a recipe online for ranch dressing, made with a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix and fat free cottage cheese. I put them in my food processor and add a little skim milk til it's smooth and the consistancy I want. it's really good, and very low in calories.
I use a brand called Walden Farms. It is fat free, carb free, sugar free. It is mostly vinegar with natural spices. I found it at an organic food store. It comes in all flavors, italian, caesar, ranch, bacon ranch, and caesar. I love it beacause it is free and tastes yummy to me. They have a web site.
Also, recently i bought a mandarin orange vinagrette that has 20 calories per two tblsp. I bought it at a country store. Cant wait to try it. Seems like this would be easy to make on your own.
Last edited by PearlNorth; 10-22-2011 at 06:33 PM.
I make my own. I use 1/3 canola or olive oil to 2/3 lemon juice and freshly grated garlic. I salt and pepper it, shake it or put in blender if making a large amount. My whole family eats it, even the ranch loving kids.
I see Pearl North mentioned the Walden Farms dressing, and I have heard great stuff about them (never tried them tho). A friend of mine buys regular oil/vinegar dressings and then leaves it unopened on the counter to get to room temp for a couple days---so the oil is separated to the top--and then over the sink squeezes out the oil (which spills onto the hand, ugh) but after the oil is gone, takes off the cap and replaces the oil with water and vinegar. Says it still retains the delicious taste, but the fattening oil is gone.
As to home made recipes that are creamy, I don't know any...sorry.
I know there are some that use chicken broth for oil, and others buttermilk, but you'd have to go google that.
I don't do this because I can't tolerate anything hot, but my friend uses hot sauces as salad dressing. I think they are extremely low in calories, maybe even no calories.
I mix my own.
-1 tbs. full fat italian dressing. Full fat because the nutrients in salads are usually fat soluble and to get the most out of the salad it needs to be eaten with a healthy fat.
-1 tbs. balsamic vinegar
-1 tbs. water
Fav low cal salad dressing?
