I'm another one for plain old balsamic. It doesn't coat very well, though, so I'll reduce it. Slight up in calories--'cause it's more concentrated--but you really don't need very much, as it's quite strong. You can also add honey to sweeten it, but that's not terribly necessary. That ups the calories some, obviously.
Panera does something similar on their steak salad; they use a cabernet reduction. They also use some fatty blue cheese dressing, but I never get the dressing on it. Just the reduction. Nom.
Now, if you don't feel like making it, or you want a change of pace, I'll have to third the recommendation of the Newman's Old light balsamic.
I typically use only 1-2T of salad dressing for both DH and my salads (I make them at the same time.) I don't mind splurging on full-fat dressing when I'm only eating 1/2-1T.
I mix these two dressing together for a unique flavor:
1. Maple Grove Farms Sugar Free Raspberry Vinaigrette
2. Hidden Valley Ranch LIGHT (taste like regular to me)
Together you have a rich creamy, but sweet/tart delishous dressing!
Hmm I'll have to try that too. My favorite used to be Maries Blue cheese but I switched to the maple grove farms sugar free vinaigrette when I started watching what I ate...but sometimes it's too sweet to me so this will really taste yum I bet.
What I REALLY love is the cherry vinaigrette that they have on the harvest salad at Panara's. YUMMY!!! But I've never found it at the grocery store.
Another one for salsa here - especially a good chunky low(er)sodium kind like Green Mountain. Even better - try mixing up the salsa with some greek yogurt, or low fat or fat free sour cream - results in an extremely low cal spicy ranchy type dressing!
I will also sometimes make a kind of spicy asian dressing by mixing siracha and rice wine vinegar - this is very vinegary and spicy and not for everyone. Sometimes I'll add a packet of truvia to it to sweeten it up, or a drop (literally, a drop) of sesame oil to give it that rich toasted flavor.
Count me in as another plain vinegar person - well, vinegar with salt and pepper. I prefer red wine vinegar to Balsamic, but Balsamic is fine too.
When I have calorie room I will drizzle a little olive oil, or mix together a mustard vinaigrette at home - olive oil, mustard, and vinegar in a 1-1-3 ratio, then just use a small amount to flavor the salad again sprinkling salt and pepper on the salad before adding the dressing).
I never cared for gloppy, creamy salad dressings, even when I wasn't being mindful of what I ate - I guess I'm lucky that way, I don't have to look for a substitute for Ranch or anything like that.
I LOVE Trader Joe's Champagne Pear Vinaigrette With Gorgonzola. SO GOOD! Actually I just ran out and have to go back... but every time I go to that store I get sucked into buying $100 of stuff I don't really need...
I love, love, love...the Bolthouse Farms creamy yogurt dressings. The ones I have tried so far are Creamy Honey Mustard, Creamy Ranch, and Creamy Blue cheese....they all are low in calories AND sodium!
I also make my own. Once you get the hang of it, you can learn to make just what you need for the meal, whether it's a single serving or a huge pot-luck bowlful.
Homemade dressings only take a few more seconds to make that it takes to use a bottled dressing, and even if you buy expensive oils and vinegars, they usually come out better and far cheaper.
My favorite dressings are vinaigrettes. I use rice wine vinegars, because most of them are far milder than other vinegars (champagne vinegar is also usually very mild). And with a mild vinegar, you can use little to no oil or sweetener. You can also dilute stronger vinegars with water, but that can be a little less tricky. To me, rice wine vinegar has the perfect acid/sweetness balance, so I'll even use it straight if I don't feel like making a salad dressing, but I'm a "condiment" gal, so I like making my own dressings.
One of my favorite dressings is just rice wine vinegar and a little bit of the peanut oil poured off of a jar of natural peanut butter and a dash of pepper (and salt if it's a salt-free peanut butter).
If I'm in an asiany mood then I do about 7-10g sesame oil, some rice vinegar, salt (or bragg's). Sometimes I'll add garlic powder or fresh garlic and some ginger. Delicious!
Or, about the same amount of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and some spices.
I have been looking into making my own dressings, but I just don't have the time. We keep light ranch and light blue cheese around. If I want something creamy I'll use one of those.
dressings are one of the ways I get my healthy fats in, so I usually keep the oil in, unless I'm way over my fats for the day.
Last edited by tdiprincess; 08-24-2011 at 01:52 PM.
