Avocado Ranch Salad Dressing (Low Sodium Option)
I found some lovely ripe avocados at the store today and it just occurred to me that avocado would be delicious in a Ranch Salad Dressing. Maybe I live in a hole, but why haven’t I ever seen that before?
Before today, that is. Because here it is! Tada! Super quick, super healthy, super delicious, and if you have someone who is watching their sodium, then just leave out the salt! It’s still fantabulous.
Avocado Ranch Salad Dressing with Low Sodium Option
To reduce sodium: If you leave out the salt altogether, this salad dressing has 75 mg of sodium per 2 Tablespoons; with 1/4 teaspoon of salt, this dressing has 149 mg sodium. I did a quick check and store-brand ranch dressings have sodium content ranging from 200 to 500 mg in 2 Tablespoons of dressing.
Makes about 1 cup of dressing (8 servings/2 Tablespoons per serving)
- 1/3 c. light mayonnaise
- 1/3 c. 1% milk
- 1 clove of garlic
- About 1/2 a handful of fresh basil leaves
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- Several fresh parsley leaves or ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- A few fresh dill twigs or ½ teaspoon dried dill weed
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- Several chives
- Freshly ground pepper
- A sprig of fresh rosemary leaves
- 3 green onions (tops only)
- 1/4 of a ripe avocado (you could probably even add more avocado if you want …)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (Leave out the salt altogether if you want less sodium … I made sure to taste it before I added salt, and it was delicious.)
- 1/3 c. nonfat greek yogurt
Whir all the ingredients except the yogurt in a handy chopper or food processor until smooth. Stir in the yogurt. Adjust seasonings to taste. Store any leftovers in a covered container in the fridge.
This recipe was shared at Newlyweds Recipe Linky and Full Plate Thursdays.
Chinese Chicken Tangerine Salad
An Oriental-inspired salad-scape.
Because I was suddenly hungry and my son was making chicken nuggets and there were tangerines sitting in front of me and greens and a beautiful red bell pepper in the fridge. Not to mention a bottle of Oriental vinaigrette already made.
This is kind of a melange of all the oriental salads I’ve tried … tangerines or mandarin oranges are divine in an oriental salad … I was kind of wishing I had some chow mein noodles on hand, or some rice noodles I could fry up, but all I had for oriental-style noodles were Ramen noodles so yes, they went into the salad. Raw, crunchy, right out of the package.
Chinese Chicken Tangerine Salad
- Mixed greens
- 4 chicken nuggets or leftover cooked chicken, warmed and chopped
- Chopped onion
- 2 tangerines
- Chopped bell pepper
- Chow mein noodles, crumbled uncooked Ramen noodles, or rice noodles, deep fried till they are crunchy and puffy
- Toasted almonds (I know, there aren’t any in the picture … I remembered them after the photo shoot!)
- Oriental vinaigrette salad dressing
Fill the bowl 3/4 of the way with mixed greens. Arrange the other salad ingredients on top and drizzle with the oriental vinaigrette.
Oriental vinaigrette salad dressing
Ingredients:
- 2 T. soy sauce
- 1/2 c. rice vinegar (or white vinegar)
- 2 T. honey
- 1-2 cloves garlic, chopped fine OR 1/4 t. granulated garlic
- 1/2 t. ground ginger OR 1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger
- About 10 drops of sesame oil
- 1 T. canola oil
- 1 T. fish sauce
- 1 T. chinese mustard
Pour all ingredients into a bottle and shake well to blend the flavors. Refrigerate.
By the way, I’m horrible with chopsticks … can you tell from the picture?
This recipe was shared at Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange, Newlyweds Recipe Linky, Cast Party Wednesday, Midweek Fiesta, Full Plate Thursday, and Fit & Fabulous Fridays.
Herb Salad with Chicken, Feta, Pinons & Oriental Vinaigrette
I don’t know if you noticed but I was away from my kitchen last week, travelling in California. The company I work for lives out in California … everyone else who works for this company lives in California. Most of them come into the office every day. I am the lone midwestern employee, working remotely. They give me a lot of crap about the weather. My boss loves to call and tell me when he’s wearing shorts in sunny 70 degree weather and we are up to our armpits in snow. It’s all in good fun. My son and I called them all wimps when we were visiting last week and they were shivering in their jackets while we were reveling in what (to us) was lovely weather.
We got home late Sunday night, so there was no time for grocery shopping, and work began early Monday morning, so I wondered what on earth I was going to eat. But I was in luck. My parents were here to stay with my daughter for the weekend and they left me a big, beautiful tub of organic herb salad mix.
So all I needed to do was find something to go with it. I scrounged up some frozen (natural) chicken nuggets, feta, pinons, tomatoes, onion and pulled out one of my homemade dressings and haha! I had a lovely lunch.
Herb Salad with Chicken, Feta, Pinons and Oriental Vinaigrette
- Organic herb salad mix
- Chicken nuggets, cooked and cut into small pieces (I used 4 for my salad)
- Pinon nuts, toasted
- Feta cheese crumbles
- Chopped tomato
- Sliced onion
Directions:
- Fill the salad bowl most of the way with herb salad mix.
- Top with remaining ingredients.
- Drizzle with dressing.
Oriental vinaigrette salad dressing
Ingredients:
- 2 T. soy sauce
- 1/2 c. rice vinegar (or white vinegar)
- 2 T. honey
- 1-2 cloves garlic, chopped fine OR 1/4 t. granulated garlic
- 1/2 t. ground ginger
- About 10 drops of sesame oil
- 1 T. canola oil
- 1 T. fish sauce
- 1 T. chinese mustard
Pour all ingredients into a bottle and shake well to blend the flavors. Refrigerate.
This recipe was shared at Totally Tasty Tuesdays, Tastetastic Thursdays and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.
Avocado Tahini Yogurt Salad Dressing
This is the salad dressing we had with our salad on Thanksgiving. We made it with my dad’s homemade yogurt. I think it may be my very favorite salad dressing ever. It’s so flavorful, and chock full of healthy ingredients, so you don’t have to feel guilty about using extra dressing on your salad with this one.
I can’t take credit for this recipe … it’s my friend Rynn’s Tahini Yogurt salad dressing with an avocado twist. I was going to finally try making her yummy dressing this Thanksgiving. I had made up the salad and had just chopped up half an avocado to put on the salad, then started working on the dressing. The other half of the avocado still sitting there on the counter and it wasn’t long before it was just begging to be included in the dressing. The dressing was so good we had to make it again as soon as dad made more yogurt. I promised our friend Janet that I would post the recipe soon so she would always have the recipe.
Avocado Tahini Yogurt Salad Dressing
- 1 cup nonfat plain yogurt
- 2 – 3 teaspoons garlic
- 2 Tablespoons Tahini
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/2 of an avocado
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Put all ingredients except salt and pepper in a blender or food processor and blend till smooth. Stir in salt and pepper to taste.
Here is the Avocado Tahini Yogurt dressing alongside our Thanksgiving salad: a bed of fresh spinach and mixed organic greens with mom’s garden tomato, bell pepper, green onion, avocado and feta cheese.
This recipe was shared at Newlyweds Blog Recipe Linky, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, Taste-Tastic Thursday and This Chick Cooks.
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:
- Whisk together all ingredients except the blue cheese until smooth.
- 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:
Fiesta in a Bowl! Black Bean & Corn Salad
with Tequila Lime Vinaigrette
Usually I have a lot to say about a recipe, but today I’m rushing through lunch and need to get back to work. I just have a whole lot of sweet corn from my mom and dad I need to use up and a black bean and corn salad seemed like the right thing to do. I did it backwards and threw the salad together last night and just whipped up the dressing for lunch today.
This salad is so amazingly tasty, colorful, and very, very good for you! And i t’s a great way to use up some of those abundant summer vegies.
Ingredients:
Salad:
- Fresh sweet corn, cooked & cut from the cob: about 3 cobs. (You could also use canned or frozen corn–probably about 1 15-oz. can would be equivalent)
- Black beans, cooked and drained — I cooked my own, but probably used about the equivalent of 1 can of black beans
- 1 jalapeno pepper, chopped fine
- 1/2 an onion, chopped fine
- 1 clove of garlic, chopped fine
- 1/2 to 1 cucumber, chopped (I used half a cucumber, but it was a VERY large cucumber!)
- 1/2 a green bell pepper, chopped (or for even more color use part red/part green)
- Fresh cilantro leaves
- Cherry tomatoes, halved — toss in as many as you want to add color and flavor!
- Toasted pine nuts
- Goat cheese crumbles
Tequila Lime Vinaigrette (from Cooking Light Magazine):
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 2 tablespoons tequila
- 2 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons honey
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
- Dash of salt
Directions:
- Prepare the vinaigrette: Toss all ingredients into a food processor and whir till blended. Or you can just whisk them all together in a bowl. I used watermelon-infused tequila (made by soaking watermelon cubes in tequila for several days). Cover and chill until ready to use.
- Prepare the salad: Mix together all ingredients except the pinons and goat cheese in a bowl. Toss with enough vinaigrette to cover–save the rest for another salad!
- Garnish with fresh cilantro, pinons and goat cheese. The soft flavors of the goat cheese and the pine nuts with the sweet tangy vinaigrette, the spice of the jalapeno, along with the corn and beans and tomato is such a good combination!
