Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Four low calorie, high flavor dressings!


I have been wanting to write this post for a long time. It seems that the question people invariably ask when they are eating tons of salad, is what low calorie dressing tastes good? Their are a few on the shelves at the supermarket that are good but are pretty expensive. If you ever noticed a lot of those bottles are 8 ounces. A cup! Three dollars for a cup! I can buy a gallon of gasoline for that! Yikes. The kind you can make at home really just beats the pants off the ones in the stores!

I have a list that I will share with you but I also saw that Martha Stewart had quite a few low calorie ones in her recent issue of Living. I made the one below from her magazine. I made this particular one because it reminded me of one my Aunt in AZ made for she and I. It was Spring and she whipped up this orange/garlic dressing and poured it over a bed of romaine. With toasted almonds on top it was absolutely delicious!

I would love to hear your favorites as well. If you would like, please share a name of a bottled one or a link to one that you make. A person can never have too many of these in their arsenal.

Citrus Vinaigrette
adapted from Martha Stewart Living, March 2009 Issue
recipe doubled

1/2 cup grapefruit juice
1/2 teaspoon grapefruit zest
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup orange juice
1 1/2 teaspoons orange zest
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, unseasoned
1/4 cup olive oil

Combine all ingredients together in a bowl and whisk together.
2 tablespoons 53 calories.
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These are some of the ones I collected over the years. I unfortunately do not know their sources.

Asiago Pepper Dressing

1/3 cup low fat buttermilk
1/3 cup low fat cottage cheese or low fat sour cream
1/3 cup finely grated asiago
4 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Process all in a blender. Makes 1 cup, one serving is 1 tablespoon, 13 calories per serving.

Carrot Ginger Dressing

1/4 cup minced shallot
1/4 cup finely shredded carrot
2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons mirin (can substitute sherry)
2 tablepoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons freshly garted ginger
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Process all in a blender until smooth. Makes 3/4 cup, a serving is 1 tablespoon, 17 calories per serving.

Zesty Lemon Vinaigrette

1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon dijon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon feenel seeds, crushed
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced

Process all in a blender. Makes 1 cup, open serving a tablespoon, 16 calories per serving.

13 comments:

Maria said...

I love citrus dressings!! They are full of flavor and not calories and fat!! And citrus is so good right now!! I can't wait to have a salad!

Sheila said...

Oh, I can't wait to try the citrus dressing. One of my favorite salads has a citrus dressing and I have never made my own.

What a terrific variety of addition to make the salads less mundane.

kat said...

They all sound so good. We really need to vary our dressings more!

Bunny said...

These sound so good Lori, I love citrus anything!!

grace said...

awesome. it's so hard for me to find a consistent dressing that i like. these have a lot of potential. :)

oneordinaryday said...

These sound great and I love your photo!
Michelle
http://oneordinaryday.wordpress.com/

giz said...

I'm a dressing hog - always on the lookout for perfect accompaniments. My very favourite is simple as can be - 10 Tbsp canola, 10Tbsp white vinegar, 4 Tbsp honey, froth it up and you've got a winner.

Melissa said...

Oh my word, I can't wait to try these. Because a) I need to be eating more salads than comfort food these days, and these dressings will give my greens just the boost they need, and b) I am SO OVER spending $4+ on a bottle of Asiago Caesar dressing just to watch it go like water.

Thanks!

The Blonde Duck said...

I'm so excited you posted these! I can't wait to try them!

Hillary said...

Yum! This is a great post! I like how you stretched to different flavors as opposed to just 4 different citrus vinaigrettes.

test it comm said...

These dressings sound good!

creampuff said...

Love all of them, Lori! This should brighten up many a' lunch salad. Thanks!

Debbie said...

I love homemade dressings too! Can't wait to try these.