It’s summer time and if like us, you have tried your hand at growing lettuce and rocket then you’ll be looking for some inventive salad dressing ideas!
Having a variety of salad each day is a great way to increase your nutrient intake but most of us will only eat a salad if we can garnish it with a dressing.
Adding this flavour makes a bland salad more enjoyable and thus encouraging us to eat them more often.
There’s a nutritional reason we add dressings too, as salads contain fat soluble vitamins so unless a salad is served with an oil-based dressing, it is difficult for the body to absorb these vitamins.
However, shop bought dressings can contain added calories, salt, sugar and saturated fat thus negating the wonderful benefits of your salad!
So here are some salad dressing ideas to try. Fresh is always best and it’s very easy to make a daily French dressing using good quality oil and vinegar. But if you feel like a change here are some alternatives to try below.
French dressing:
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 2 tbsp white wine vinegar 1 tsp Dijon mustard Salt and pepper to taste Add a pinch of sugar or finely chopped garlic clove or up the Dijon for an extra kick
Mix ingredients in an old jam jar and shake together before garnishing your salad or storing remaining dressing in the fridge for a day or two.
For each of the following dressings, mix all the ingredients together in a high-speed blender until they reach a creamy consistency. Use the dressings straight away or store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Almond dressing:
2/3 cup of water Juice of a lemon ¾ cup of pre-soaked almonds or ½ cup of almond butter 1 clove of garlic A spoonful of dill A handful of parsley
Vegan ranch dressing:
¼ cup of pre-soaked and drained cashews 1/3 cup of water 1 tbsp. of nutritional yeast 1 clove of garlic 1 tbsp. of lemon juice 1 tsp of capers 1 tsp of caper water ½ tsp of Dijon mustard Salt and pepper to taste
Indian mango curry dressing:
1 mango (pitted and peeled) 1 tbsp of curry powder 1 tbsp of garam masala 1 tsp of ground cardamom 1 tsp of salt ¼ cup of olive oil
For more up to date nutritional information check out our blog and sign up to our newsletter.