Creamy Lowfat Blue Cheese Salad Dressing

Do you like blue cheese? I think it’s one of those things you either love or hate. If you don’t, then skip this post. I’m sure there’s something else here that’ll catch your fancy.

Me, I love blue cheese. When I’m at a restaurant and they ask me what kind of dressing I want on my salad, I always say “Blue Cheese on the Side.” When I’m at home, I change up the dressings a lot and experiment with different flavors, but when I’m out, I want blue cheese. If I’m lucky it’s one that they make fresh at the restaurant that has real hunks of blue cheese in it.

You can whip up an awesome low-fat dressing in just a few minutes that will taste SOOoooo much better than the store-bought stuff — and it will be a heck of a lot healthier for you. Oh, and it costs a lot less than those bottled dressings that have all the nasty chemical preservatives in them. Have you ever read the labels on one of those bottles?

Trust me on this one, it’s SO much better to make your own. You’ll feel like a rock star when you serve your salad with homemade blue cheese dressing.

Creamy Low-fat Blue Cheese Salad Dressing

Adapted from Eating Well

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup nonfat buttermilk, or nonfat milk — I used fat free half and half, but I think buttermilk would be better
• 1/3 cup nonfat plain yogurt
• 2 tablespoons tarragon vinegar, red wine vinegar or white vinegar (I used 1 T. red wine & 1 T. white)
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/8 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon pesto (optional)
• 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese, (1 ounce)

Directions:

1. Whisk together all ingredients except the blue cheese until smooth.
2. Stir in the blue cheese. I like to leave it chunky, but if you want, you can mash the blue cheese with your spoon to blend it into your dressing more.

Here it is on the Pear Salad with Blue Cheese and Sweet Spicy Nuts:

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