Salad dressing
 

Can anyone recommend a brand of salad dressing that is on the creamier side (ranch, thousand island, ceaser) That is low in calories and tastes good?

Easy parmesan pepper dressing: mix 1/2 cup fat-free sourcream, 1/2 cup skim milk, 1/2 cup fat-free grated parmesan, 2 cloves garlic, 6 tbsp white wine vinegar, 1.5 tbsp ground black pepper. Refrigerate it for an hour for best flavor, though I usually skip this step. It makes 6 servings.

I mix 1 part light ranch to 1 part fat free italian (I use the store brands). Fitday tells me it's 23 cals per TBSP.

Dear Laura:

Your dressing sounds scrumptious! Can you tell me how many calories are in a serving?

Just put it into DailyPlate. 41 cals/serving - more nutrition info is here: http://www.thedailyplate.com/nutriti...-dressing_7617

Thanks Laura:hug:. I'll be giving it a try this month.

I mix equal parts of low fat yogurt and light sour cream. Then add ranch dressing mix to taste, mix well and let the flavors blend for a while. I do the same thing using just a bit of blue cheese. I would rather use less of this and have it taste better. I only use about a tablespoon for a big salad.

Honestly...I just use the normal stuff when I am eating a salad as a meal.. Most of the veggies I use are very low calorie, so why not have a salad that tastes good? I have a hard time finding light dressing that is rich and creamy and GOOD, because I mainly eat blue cheese or ranch dressings. I just make sure I measure a serving, and leave my lettuce a little wet after I wash it so the dressing goes further.

I'm a dressing fiend when it comes to salad, so all these suggestions are wonderful. I've copied them all down for future reference.

"Real" salad dressing is one of the things I miss the most. I think when I get to the maintenance stage, I wil figure out a way to include it.

I like Trader Joe's fat free balsamic vinegar dressing, the fat free ginger soy sesame dressing (they call that one Trader Ming's) and a low fat raspberry dressing. These three seem not to have that sort of chemical taste that a lot of the bottled dressings have.

Gailr42 - I *love* the balsamic vinegar dressing from Trader Joe's, too! It's fantastic, low calorie, and no fat. I highly recommend it with some fat free feta cheese that they sell there as well.

I mix fat-free sour cream, low-fat sour cream, and salsa (medium or hot). It tastes great and gives the salad a little kick. Salad sprtizers are also tasty - Asian silk, red wine vinegarette are my favorites.
Thanks for the recipes.
Happy New Year!

Oh I almost forgot another one of my favorites --- take a packet of low-sodium taco seasoning, and mix it (to taste) with low-fat ranch dressing. Tastes really good on a salad w/grilled chicken or shrimp!

Wish Bone Light Just 2 Good. Tastes great and is low in fat and calories.

I like to mix a teaspoon of low cal cream(ranch, caesar, creamy cucmber) dressings with 2 tablespoons of cottage cheese, you still get the flavor from the dressing without losing the creamy texture.

I like Kraft Light Done Right Three Cheese Ranch. I also don't mind Hidden Valley Light Ranch. I can't do fat free, haven't food a single one I like.

MMM that three cheese ranch sounds good Switzie! I'll keep an eye out for it.

I love crumbly bleu cheese on a salad, it's actually not that high in fat or cals, and you really only need a small amount because the taste is so strong. Then I have a low-fat bleu cheese dressing, maybe only a tbsp to avoid that "drenched in dressing" taste that I hate so much! (I think Wishbone has a pretty good reduced-fat bleu cheese.)

I water down my creamy dressings. There is basically no effect on the taste and they spread over the salad nicer when they're thinned out.

I love Lighthouse 1000 Islands, so I thin it out and for a taco salad, mix it 1/2 with FF italian. Yum.

If you have a la madaline they sell an AMAZING FF Caesar that has 20 calories for 2 TBSP.

I avoid several additives and specifics sweeteners (hfcs & artificial) in foods, so I make my dressings at home. Add in the bonus that it's just cheaper to make them yourself, so I don't miss store bought.

I make regular vinegarette quite a bit, but I use a 1:1 ratio on the vinegar and oil.

I also found this great recipe for a lite version of Amy's Goddess Dressing that I love! I used it so much last year I got sick of it, but I've recently started making it again. The nutritional info is with the recipe. I think it's around 19 cals per serving.

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/01...-dressing.html

If for some reason the link goes away, google "susans lite goddess dressing."

Also, if you really like full fat dressings you can use the fork trick. When I go out to eat I splurge on blue cheese dressing (on the side) and I just lightly dip the tines of my fork into the dressing before taking a bite. You get the flavor with much less dressing.

Ooh, I love Trader Joe's Lowfat Parmesan Ranch - it is thinner than a typically creamy dressing so it goes a bit further, but has such great flavor.

If you love creamy dressing without the calories or fat that comes with it, there is a dressing by "walden farms" that comes in ranch, ceasar, and blue cheese. It has zero calories, zero fat, and zero carbs. It does have 240mg of sodium per serving though. I found it at my local meijers grocery store.