Homemade Salad Dressing

Growing up, we rarely had store-bought salad dressings in our home… my mom always made her own from scratch.  Still to this day, she’s queen of dressings… hers are the best, I’m convinced.  They vary slightly in flavor with each batch, but they’re always the perfect balance of everything I want in a vinaigrette-style dressing no matter what concoction she conjures up.  She’s the dressing master.

Like my mom, I make my own dressings now, too.  And like hers, mine change frequently depending on what I have around… but they always have these few ingredients as the base: balsamic vinegar, rice vinegar, olive oil, mustard, honey, garlic, lemon, and yeast.  Yep, yeast.  I love the stuff.  It has a very subtle flavor, but I love the consistency it gives and the slight buttery flair it brings.  If you choose, you can omit it of course, but if you happen to have it lying around, toss that stuff in there!  As for herbs, I tend to mix it up.  I like basil a lot… herbs de Provence is good, as is thyme and oregano.  It all depends on what your taste buds are craving I suppose 🙂

I’d never actually thought of making a dressing recipe for the blog before, but recently a dear friend and family member of mine who I don’t see often enough (Gloria, if you’re reading this, hope to see you soon!) mentioned that I should add it on here so she can recreate it at home.  Can’t believe I never thought of that before, since dressings are used pretty much used daily around here!  So thank you Gloria for the great idea.  I hope you enjoy… ♥

makes a quarter liter

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup good quality olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp rice vinegar

1/4 cup water

2 tsp honey (I use raw)

1/2 tsp whole grain or dijon mustard

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp finely minced garlic

1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional*)

1/4 tsp dried basil (or other herbs you like)

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

*I have always loved nutritional yeast, so I put it in nearly all dressings… it acts as a

thickener and has a very subtle flavor, one I like.  If you’d prefer not to use it, no biggie 🙂

DIRECTIONS

There’s not much prep needed for this, other than mincing the garlic and squeezing the lemon juice…

Add all of the ingredients into a bottle or jar

Shake it around until well mixed

Taste and adjust seasonings as desired

That’s it!  Enjoy over !!

{Oil will harden in the refrigerator, but it will thin out again as soon as shaken or left at room-temp}