The other day I saw Paul Newman on the Jane Pauley show talking about how he started his Salad Dressing company.

I was in the supermarket today and I wanted to try one of his dressings but most of them were pretty high in fat.

Then I noticed that there were 2 "lighter" versions on the shelf.

I thought that Light Raspberry & Walnut sounded good so I purchased a bottle.

It has 5 grams of fat in 2 Tbsp so I used my measuring spoon and put 1 Tbsp on my small green salad and mixed it really well.

I have to say I really enjoyed the taste. Both the Raspberry and the Walnut flavors are very intense and really flavor the salad nicely.

I have been using the Hidden Valley "Light" Ranch which has about 7 fat grams in 2 Tbsp and I do like that one but I will certainly use the Newman dressing as well. If you are counting sugar grams the Newman does have a few more sugar grams than the Hidden Valley.

Does anyone have any other favorite salad dressings? --Pookie

Those sound good, I'll look for them! I love a good salad. My favorite salad dressing is T.Marzetti Light Balsamic Vinaigrette. It's not too tangy, not too light, and it goes with everything.

My fav salad at the moment is butterhead lettuce (or the Riviera salad blend) with a diced apple, a sprinkling of walnuts, a little crumbled blue cheese, and the Light Balsamic Vinaigrette.

Hi Suzanne,

Newman also has a Light Balsamic Vinaigrette but I have not tried that one yet.

I chose the Raspberry at the supermarket because I think they have the Newman Light Balsamic as one of the choices at McDonalds so I figured I could try that flavor the next time I buy a McDonalds salad.

The salad I enjoyed last night was the Dole "Very Veggie" salad is has Romaine & Iceberg and carrots and snow peas and cabbage and thin sliced radishes. --Pookie

My fav dressing is Kraft fat free Zesty Italian, YUM! I like that it's got a little kick to it, much better than regular Italian.

Beverly

I'll have to try those dressings..i always put walnuts in my salad, so i'm sure the raspberry/walnut combination is awesome!

I just use balsamic vinegar to give my salad a kick. Sometimes I will use salsa instead as a "dressing" if I want something spicy. I don't like oil-based things so I've never eaten conventional salad dressing (and now that I know how bad it is for me, I don't think I'll start!)

Suzanne,

I happened to be in a different supermarket the other day and they had the T.Marzettis Light Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing. I remembered the name from your post. I marinated some chicken pieces in it and it came out very tasty.
I marinated & cooked 2 pieces in the Marzettis and 2 pieces in the Newman Light Raspberry Walnut and they both tasted very good.

I have not tried them yet but in the same store they had a Ken's Fat Free Raspberry Pecan dressing and a Maple Grove Farms of Vermont low carb-sugar free Raspberry Vinaigrette. I'm going Raspberry crazy! I'm waiting to try them -- I don't want too many bottles open at once!--Pookie

I am so jealous!!!! We don't have anything near like that range in the UK I have been having naked salads lately I tried the extra light Hellmans mayonnaise, but I hate it, it tastes really eggy and plasticy, not nice at all.

Hi Kykaree,

Naked Salads !!

I am not a cook or handy in the kitchen but could you try to mix a vinegar and a little oil or maybe some mustard etc just to have a little something on your salad? Quite a few of the vinegars etc in my store seem to come from Europe.

Maybe you don't have a wide variety of salad dressings in the UK but you do have Alan Rickman so that makes up for it

--Pookie

For a healthy, do it yourself salad dressing, I like to mix salsa and fat free plain yogurt, or yogurt and dijon mustard. Sometimes I use plain balsamic vinegar. And sometimes I like a "plain" salad if it has enough yummy veggies in it and some cottage cheese on the side.

When I buy dressing, I like Kraft fat free Italian. It's good for stir frying veggies in too.

Kykaree, my absolute favorite dressing is actually one from the UK! Marks and Spencer Count on Us French Dressing. Though I've heard they moved it out of their Count on Us range and now call it just Reduced Fat French Dressing. For anyone here, it isn't anything like our red french dressing, it's completely different, and had a base of white grape juice, mustard, etc. I loved it on a salad with lettuce, some shredded cabbage, raisins, and sunflower seeds.

Pookie, please tell me what you do in your raspberry craze Mom gave me a bottle of raspberry balsamic and I don't know how best to use it.

Only Me, I like the salsa and yogurt idea!

Only Me -- your two yogurt recipes sound very good and very easy.

Both you and Boiaby (Bev) mentioned the Fat Free Zesty Italian -- I'll have to give that a try!

Suzanne, I would LOVE to help you but whenever I am in the kitchen it always turns into an episode of "I Love Lucy". I have no idea how to cook or combine things etc. Thank goodness for toaster ovens and microwave ovens. I just shove things into them and cross my fingers.

I have not opened the bottle of the Raspberry Balsamic vinegar yet. The main reason why I brought it was because I happened to go to another store (not my usual store) and they had many more "exotic" or "gourmet" items. I knew they did not have the Raspberry Balsamic vinegar in my regular store so I decided to buy it when I had the change.

I also brought it because I was liking the Newman Light Raspberry Walnut a little bit toooo much! "Pour me more Salad Dressing Please!" Even though it is Light it does have fat in it. So I was hoping that just having the vinegar around might help me cut back a bit on the fat.

Hopefully someone else will jump in with some ideas for your Raspberry Balsamic.
Can you marinate with it?
Or Would it taste good if you put just a pinch of oil with it and put it on a salad that way? --Wolfgang Pook

I have quite a few recipes using the raspberry balsamic vinegar! Here is just one let me know if you need more, I will post some for you!

4 whole portobello mushroom caps
2 tablespoons rasp. balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 teaspoon basil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix together the vinegar, oil, garlic, basil, and seasonings.
2. Place the mushroom (smooth side down) in a baking dish
3. Pour the dressing over the mushrooms
4. Allow to marinate for 10 minutes, turning once
5. Grill for 5-7 minutes, turning once
6. Slice and serve on salads, sandwich or pizza!

When it is nice and we have a bbq grill going i make these on it. But it also works great on a George Foreman Grill!

I hope you enjoy this!

I'll check out the Marks and Spencer range, we have one near the tram stop, when I am in need of a chocolate fix I pop in and get a box of fresh cherries, so much nicer than chocolate!!!! In summer I will start making my own vinegars, like raspberry, I really like bottling and preserving. Thanks for the tip Suzanne.

Thanks for the recipe! The mushrooms sound delicious! I've done something similar with a plain balsamic, so this will be a treat. When I grill the mushrooms with regular balsamic, I serve them on a hearty bun with a slice of roasted red bell pepper, and a slice of good parmesan cheese. Yummy

Kykaree, I spent a year in Lincolnshire, and I did notice the serious lack of variety in salad dressings and some other things. Even soap was limited. They had a 3 x 3 foot soap section, where we have an entire aisle of soap to choose from But, while your options were not as varied, I did notice that the quality of food there was a lot better. Our ready meals are so highly processed that you can't always be sure what you have without reading the label!