Saturday, March 24, 2012

Salad Days - a simple creamy dressing

Remember back in January when I said I was getting onboard with the Build a Better Me healthy blogging challenge? Have you noticed I haven't mentioned it much since then?

Yeah, I haven't done a whole lot of building.

It's probably time to start making a few improvements. Little things. I'm starting with salad.

I know that salad is not necessarily a low-calorie food. It depends on what you put in it and what you put on it.

But even if it's not crazy low-calorie, salad has one advantage: it takes a while to eat. You see, I like eating salad with dinner instead of having it before dinner, so eating salad slows down the meal. And the slower you eat, the less you eat. It's like magic.

And for people who take their "done eating" cues from other people at the table, having that salad to munch on might keep them from grabbing more fried chicken.

I like making my own salad dressing. Usually it's a simple vinegar and oil dressing with whatever herbs or flavors I'm in the mood for. I'll usually start with a ratio of 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil, but it depends on how strong the vinegar is as well as what else I'm adding. If I'm adding something sweet, like a raspberry syrup or honey that will temper the acidity, I'll use less olive oil.

This particular dressing was a little different since it was a creamy dressing. Here's the basic recipe, which is infinity adaptable.

Creamy Dressing

1 part white balsamic vinegar
1 part mayonnaise
1 part yogurt
2 parts olive oil
Salt, pepper, and herbs, to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Shake to combine. Taste and adjust it to your personal preference.

Serve on your salad.

As far as the salad that you're looking at, there's lettuce, zucchini, roasted red peppers, and olives. It's what I had at the time. Pretty soon, after the farmer's market opens, there will be all sorts of interesting things in my salads. For now, they're much more simple.

Speaking of olives, I recently got an email from Lindsay Olives about a promotion they're doing for 30 Days to a Healthier You. It's a pretty simple promotion, and you could win $500 from them (not from me - I got no influence in this giveaway.)

All you have to do is Like them on Facebook and post a health tip - and based on what I've seen there so far, it can be pretty simple. And let them know that Cookistry referred you.

You don't even have to mention olives.

I'm not really sure what olives have to do with a healthier me, but it's a nice thing for Lindsay to promote. On the other hand, olives are pretty good on my salads, so I guess it makes some sense.

Speaking of hands, sometimes when no one is looking, I'll put an olive on my little finger. Some kids never grow up, huh?

Admit it, now... do you ever do that?
Yum