Strawberry Poppy Seed Vinaigrette

One of my favourite things about summer is all of the fresh strawberries; I love using them in salads and they also work well in dressings like this strawberry poppy seed vinaigrette! This dressing is so easy to make that it literally only takes about 5 minutes! You simply puree fresh strawberries with white balsamic vinegar, oil, garlic, honey for sweetness, mustard for tanginess, tamari for saltiness and a kick of umami and sriracha for heat along with the poppy seeds of course! This fresh strawberry poppy seed vinaigrette goes great on salads of all kinds and in particular, this strawberry and avocado salad with bacon and feta!

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Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette

I have been into the cilantro lime combination for a long time now and I use it in many different things from marinades to sauces to soups, etc. and I also use it as a garnish on things like rice bowls, tacos, tostadas, fish, sandwiches, etc. The other day I had a thought: Wouldn't it be great if I could bottle the amazing cilantro and lime flavours so that I could pour them all over everything? With that idea this vibrant, light, bright and super tasty cilantro lime vinaigrette was born! I kept the vinaigrette nice and simple using plenty of fresh cilantro along with the lime juice, some oil, garlic and some jalapeno for a touch of heat. I don't know if you can bottle magic but you can certainly bottle the magical combination of cilantro and lime!

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Jalapeno Popper Dressing

As many of you know I am completely obsessed with jalapeno poppers and I enjoy experimenting using their flavours in others dishes. With summer here I have been thinking about salads a lot and the other day I had a crazy idea, how about a jalapeno popper salad dressing? The thought of a dressing that can give any salad all of the flavours of jalapeno poppers was so wonderfully amazing that I just had to make it! Jalapeno poppers are made by stuffing jalapeno peppers with cheese, commonly cream cheese, and then either breading them and frying until crispy or wrapping them in bacon and grilling them. With these flavours in mind I started the dressing out with a base of creamy and tangy cream cheese along with plenty of jalapeno peppers. Too make the dressing pour-able I added Greek yogurt and butter milk and I seasoned it with garlic, green onions and cilantro. I couldn't give the dressing a crispy coating so I opted for the bacon; I mean you can never go wrong with adding bacon! The resulting jalapeno dressing is super smooth and creamy with just the right amount of heat and all of the flavor of jalapeno poppers! Using a low fat cream cheese works perfectly well in this dressing meaning that it is also pretty light! Salads better beware this summer as this jalapeno popper dressing is coming!

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Raspberry White Balsamic Vinaigrette

I always enjoy making my own salad dressings, I mean they are so easy to make, taking no more than five minutes, and they are so much better than store bought! In the summer homemade dressings get particularly interesting both in the fact that I am eating a lot more salads and because there are so many fresh fruits and berries that can be using in the dressings. When I saw some raspberries at the market I could not help but think of one of my favourite dressings, a raspberry balsamic vinaigrette and I picked some up to make it. This dressing is super simple, consisting of mashed raspberries, white balsamic vinegar, oil, a bit of honey and mustard along with some garlic and it does literally only moments to make! It is hard to think of a salad that this raspberry balsamic vinaigrette would not go well on and it can elevate even the plainest of salads from ordinary to truly spectacular!

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Thai Sweet Chili Dressing

I am a big fan of Thai cuisine which is full of amazing flavours and dishes and two things that I am more than a little obsessed with are the spicy peanut sauce, typically used as a dipping sauce for satay, and sweet chili sauce. Having experimented with using them in many different ways I have noticed that very often where one works, the other also works! The other day I made my chicken satay salad with spicy peanut dressing and that reminded me that I had been wanting to try a sweet chili sauce dressing and that it was finally time to make it! For the recipe I started with the sweet chili sauce which is a little thick for a salad dressing so I added some coconut milk which is a common Thai ingredient and it worked well in the spicy peanut dressing. Another thing that I like about Thai cuisine is that the recipes commonly try to balance the sweet, spicy, salty and sour flavour elements and so it only seemed natural to do so in the dressing so the next ingredients were fish sauce for saltiness and lime juice for sourness. The last aspect of the dressing, a bit of peanut butter, came from a sticky chicken wing recipe on how sweet it is and you can't go wrong adding peanuts to a Thai inspired recipe. The final result is pretty amazing and I cannot wait to try it out on something!

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Poppy Seed Dressing

Long, long ago, in a time before I made most things from scratch, my favorite salad dressing was Briannas brand Poppy Seed Dressing. Kurt would occasionally grab a bottle of the Blush Wine Vinaigrette of the same brand, but if I got to the shelf first, it was Poppy Seed that landed in the shopping cart. For years, I’ve been whipping up all sorts of homemade vinaigrettes, creamy parmesan dressings, Caesar salad dressings, and whathaveyou, and I had all but forgotten about my old favorite poppy seed. Then, along came a story about poppy seeds in the April issue Saveur magazine. Included in that story was the recipe for Poppy Seed Dressing which was first made popular in the 1950s by Helen Corbitt. Poppy seed dressing is sweet, tangy, and somewhat creamy without being too thick. It’s perfect with butter lettuce, and it's a great match for cucumber and tomato.

Although it took me a few months to get around to making this dressing, it ended up being worth the wait. In August, our friends who live in Dublin were visiting Austin for a week. They brought us beautiful food gifts of Irish, cold pressed, extra virgin rapeseed oil and rapeseed oil with chile. This plain rapeseed oil, which is another name for canola oil, has a rich, nutty flavor, and it made the homemade poppy seed dressing extra flavorful. To make the dressing, poppy seeds were cooked for a few minutes until toasted, and then sugar, white wine vinegar, dry mustard powder, salt, pepper, and grated onion with the juice were added. The mix was cooked just until it came to a simmer, and then it was poured into the blender pitcher. Rapeseed oil and olive oil were added, and the dressing was pureed until smooth. You can store the dressing in the refrigerator for about five days. It may need a quick stir before using.

I always loved that poppy seed dressing from the grocery store, but this homemade version was better by far. The flavors were so fresh and bright. With locally grown, just-picked vegetables and homemade dressing, this simple salad was unbelievably good. I’m glad to have reconnected with my old favorite type of salad dressing, and now I’ll be making my own often.

Jalapeno Ranch Dressing

Ranch dressing is one of the most popular dressings around and I had been thinking about making a spicy jalapeno ranch dressing for a while. Your basic ranch dressing is made with buttermilk and mayonnaise and it is seasoned with spices such as salt, pepper, paprika, and mustard along with plenty of herbs including parsley, chives and dill. All of this makes for a cool and creamy dressing but this time I was thinking more along the lines of a Texmex style ranch dressing with some heat from jalapeno peppers in addition to some fresh cilantro and a burst of lime juice. Making a ranch dressing could not be easier, you simply have to puree everything in a food processor or blender and it is ready to go. When it is this easy to make your own amazingly tasty dressings at home, why wouldn't you!

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Creamy Avocado Dressing (aka Guacamole Buttermilk Dressing)

For a new salad that I have been thinking about I wanted a nice and cool and creamy dressing and I was thinking about trying something a little bit different, an avocado dressing. I am so totally addicted to avocados and I am always looking for new ways to enjoy them! I was originally planning on including diced avocado in the salad but I liked the idea of a creamy avocado dressing even more. For the avocado dressing I was thinking about starting it off a lot like a guacamole with plenty of fresh ingredients like cilantro, lime juice and even some jalapeno peppers to add a touch of heat. A quick search of the internet for these ingredients turned up a recipe for an avocado dressing pretty much just like the one that I was thinking about on Skinny Taste. I did make one quick change to the recipe by including some mayonnaise which goes fabulously well with avocados. I have to say that this avocado dressing is amazingly good; nice and creamy so so fresh and vibrant! Now I just need to resist eating it all by the spoonful so that it can make it into the salad!

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Roast Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette

I always enjoy making my own salad dressings! Not only is it easy to do but you have complete control over what goes into them and how much to make. If you feel like having a different dressing every night of the week you can make a small batch and if you want the same one all week you can make a large batch. One of my favourite dressings to make at home is the balsamic vinaigrette which is so easy to make and always better than store bought. The other day I was thinking about a strawberry salad with a balsamic vinaigrette and an idea hit; I could get even more strawberries into the salad by adding them right to the dressing and to get every last drop of flavour from the strawberries, I could roast them first! Although this dressing takes a bit longer to make with roasting the strawberries, it is still really simple and it is so worth it! Strawberries and balsamic vinegar are great together and even better when combined in this roast strawberry balsamic vinaigrette! Next up is the salad that I used it on.

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Lemon Honey Dijon Vinaigrette

Although store bought dressings can be convenient making your own is surprisingly easy! I find that I enjoy homemade dressings more and I like knowing exactly what goes into them. If you are like me and your tastes and desires change like the wind, homemade dressings are also nice as you can make as much or as little as you want. If you always make small batches, they stay fresh and tomorrow you can switch to whatever dressing you are craving then without cluttering you fridge with half a dozen open bottles of dressing. Or, if you prefer less work then you can make large batches as they store well in a jar in the fridge.

For my next recipe, I needed a lemon inspired dressing and I was immediately thinking about a vinaigrette with freshly squeezed lemon juice as the base. I like my vinaigrettes to be a bit on the tarter side so I use a one to one ratio of oil and vinegar, or in this case lemon juice. Mustard works as an emulsifier allowing the oil and vinegar to bond so it is a common ingredient in dressings and in this dressing I often like to use a mixture of dijon and grainy mustard to add a bit of texture. Next up is some locally sourced honey to tame the mustard and to balance out the tartness of the lemon juice and some salt and pepper for seasoning.

Lemon Honey Dijon Vinaigrette

A bright lemon vinaigrette with a touch of mustard for bite and honey to mellow everything out.

Servings: makes 1/2 cup

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Dijon
• 1 teaspoon grainy mustard (optional)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 clove garlic, grated (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. Mix everything.

Use in:
Asparagus, Halloumi and Chickpea Farro Salad
Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad

Similar Recipes:
Balsamic Vinaigrette
Raspberry White Balsamic Vinaigrette
Roast Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
Blue Cheese Dressing

Warm Tomato Dressing with Roasted Fennel

I’ve been eating a lot of delicious, fresh, raw tomatoes this summer. I joked that I could eat caprese salad every day, and then have pretty much done just that. I keep bringing home fresh mozzarella and heirloom tomatoes and plucking leaves off my basil plants. It’s a perfect combination, but I finally decided to change it up and do something else with tomatoes. I had this recipe for warm tomato dressing from Living magazine from last year, and it’s a versatile sauce. It can be made in advance and then re-warmed for serving. In the magazine, it was shown as a topping for roasted fennel, and that’s how I served it. It would also be great with chicken or over polenta or with other roasted or grilled vegetables. I used some pretty, little pear tomatoes but any kind of cherry-type tomatoes will work great. They’re cooked with wine and balsamic vinegar and take on a sweet and tangy flavor.

I have to confess that I didn’t read the recipe very carefully when I was writing up a shopping list. I skipped right over the word ‘red’ next to wine in the ingredient list. When I started cooking, I realized we had no red wine in the house, and I had to use white wine instead. As you can see in the photos, the dressing still became a deep, red color from the balsamic vinegar. So, to make the dressing, the tomatoes were cooked in a skillet with a little olive oil for a few minutes, and then garlic, wine, and balsamic vinegar were added and cooked until the liquid was reduced by half. A little splash of red wine vinegar and salt were added at the end, and sugar was to have been added as well but I skipped it since I thought the sauce was sweet enough. To serve, I spooned the warm dressing over wedges of roasted fennel.

The mellow, roasted fennel was a well-matched vehicle for the tomato dressing, and the reduced and intensified balsamic and wine gave the dressing a nice, agrodolce kind of flavor. Of course, I’m always looking for ways to add spiciness, and I think some crushed red pepper would be an interesting addition here. I’m glad I tried something new because those heirloom tomatoes won’t be around much longer, and I needed to start kicking my caprese habit. And, this kind of cooked dressing could even be made with canned tomatoes later in the year.

Blue Cheese Dressing

I very often make my own dressings, though they seem to get lost in the shuffle and I rarely write about them so every once in a while I like to highlight one. Given my total addiction to blue cheese it is not surprising that a blue cheese dressing is among my favorite dressings to make at home and it is quite simple to do so. Your basic blue cheese dressing is very similar to a blue cheese dip where you simply give it more of a dressings consistency by swapping in some buttermilk for some of the thicker ingredients. You can easily tailor this recipe to give you your favourite consistency by replacing some of the sour cream with butter milk to make it thinner or replacing some of the buttermilk with sour cream to make it thicker. The main trick to a nice and smooth blue cheese dressing is to start with a softer blue cheese and to let it come up to room temperature before you mix it in. A blue cheese dressing also likes to sit around for a while to let the flavours meld together so making it a day ahead is recommended. I also enjoy adding a chopped fresh herb like dill every so often and it is always a nice way to change things up.

Blue Cheese Dressing

A creamy and tangy homemade blue cheese dressing!

Servings: 1 cup

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (~1/2 lemon)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Mix everything and optionally let sit in the fridge for a few hours.

Light Blue Cheese Dressing

A lighter blue cheese dressing made with Greek yogurt that is just as creamy and tasty!

Servings: 1 cup

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (~1/2 lemon)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Mix everything and optionally let sit in the fridge for a few hours.

Use in:
Buffalo Chicken Salad
BLT Salad with Avocados and a Blue Cheese Dressing
Black and Blue Steak Sandwich
Buffalo Chicken Potato Skins
Bacon Wrapped Buffalo Chicken Jalapeno Poppers
Buffalo Chicken Burgers

Similar Recipes:
Avocado Blue Cheese Dressing
Blue Cheese Dip
Blue Cheese Cole Slaw
Lemon, Honey and Mustard Vinaigrette

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Although store bought salad dressings are convenient, it is also really easy to make them at home and I do it all the time. Scattered throughout my salad posts you will find quite the array of salad dressings but they are not all that easy to find hidden away in a recipe for a salad. I thought that I would try focusing on a few salad dressings both to give them the attention that they deserve and to make them easier to find.

Out of all the salad dressings out there the ones that I find myself coming back to all the time are vinaigrettes which are really easy to make and taste great. A vinaigrette at its simplest is just oil and vinegar but more often than not vinaigrettes are also seasoned with things like garlic, herbs, cheeses, etc. The basic ratio for oil to vinegar is generally 3 parts oil for 1 part vinegar but I prefer my dressings to be nice and tangy so I normally go with a 1 to 1 ratio but feel free to change this to fit your tastes.

One of my favorite vinaigrettes is a balsamic vinaigrette that is pretty simple and really highlights the flavour of the balsamic vinegar. Though I tend to play around with the recipes for salad dressings depending on what mood I am in, the following is the basic recipe. In addition to the balsamic vinegar and the extra virgin olive oil this recipe contains some garlic for flavour, some mustard to help bind the oil and vinegar together and a bit of honey to balance things out. Though many times I make just enough dressing for the salad at hand, it is often convenient to make a bigger batch to have some for quick use later on. When making the larger batches of dressing I like to use glass jars with tight resealable lids so that you can really give them a good shake before using them.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

(makes 1/2 cup of dressing)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
1 large clove garlic (grated)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:
1. Mix everything.

Similar Recipes:
Roast Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
Raspberry White Balsamic Vinaigrette
Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette
Honey Dijon Dressing
Sesame Dressing
Blackberry Vinaigrette
Lemon, Honey and Mustard Vinaigrette

Use on:
Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Pine Nuts
Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Quinoa Salad
Caramelized Pumpkin and Gorgonzola Salad
Festive Roast Pumpkin Salad
Mushroom and Leek Wild Rice Salad
Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Fritters
Black and Blue Steak Sandwich
Warm Mushroom and Wild Rice Salad with Roasted Asparagus and Feta
Fig and Prosciutto Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Strawberry and Balsamic Grilled Chicken Salad
Roasted Cauliflower and Mushroom Quinoa Salad in Balsamic Vinaigrette
Strawberry Quinoa and Spinach Caprese Salad

Roasted Portobello Mushroom Salad

I am a big fan of mushrooms and I am always on the lookout for new ways to enjoy them. One mushroom that I do not seem to use that often if a fairly common one, the portobello or portabella mushroom. Sure I've done stuffed portabella mushrooms and I've done portobello mushroom sandwiches but that seems to be about it. When I came across the idea of a roasted portabella salad on eat me, delicious I immediatly jumped at the chance to try using portobello mushrooms in a new way. This roasted portobello mushroom salad is pretty much like a chicken salad where it is a salad with a sliced roasted portobello mushroom on top. The mushroom is marinated in a tasty balsamic vinegar, soy sauce and garlic marinade and then roasted to perfection before being added to the salad.

Despite the fact that it takes a bit of time to marinate and roast the mushrooms, this salad is pretty easy to make. In fact you could easily marinate and roast the mushrooms a day or so ahead of time and all that is left is to assemble the salad. For the dressing, I went with a grainy mustard version of a honey dijon vinaigrette as I have been into grainy mustards lately. The roasted portobello mushroom salad with honey dijon dressing turned out really well! The mushrooms were nice and tender and they had soaked up all of the wonderful flavours of the marinade. I really liked the creamy avocado and chickpea combo in the salad and the dressing was a nice combination of sweet, sour, hot, tangy and the whole grin mustard added a texture to everything. The portobello mushrooms worked really well in the salad and I look forward to trying more salads with them!

Roasted Portobello Mushroom Salad with Honey Dijon Dressing

(makes 2 salads)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups salad greens
1 cup chickpeas
1 avocado (stoned, scooped and diced)
1/4 cup red onion (sliced)
2 small roasted portabello mushrooms (see below, sliced)
honey dijon dressing (see below)

Directions:
1. Assemble salad.

Roasted Portobello Mushrooms

Ingredients:
2 small portobello mushrooms
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 clove garlic (chopped)

Directions:
1. Marinate the mushrooms in the vinegar, soy sauce and garlic for 20 minutes.
2. Place the mushrooms and the marinade in a baking dish and cover with aluminum foil.
3. Bake in a preheated 400F oven for 30 minutes.
4. Flip the mushrooms and bake uncovered for 10 minutes.

Honey Dijon Dressing

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon grainy mustard
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic (grated)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Mix everything in a bowl.

Similar Recipes:
Teriyaki Mushroom Salad
Grilled Portobello and Roasted Red Pepper Sandwich with Pistachio Pesto
Creamy Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms
Jerked Chicken with Mango and Avocado Salad
Thai Beef Noodle Salad
Mushroom and Leek Wild Rice Salad

Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette

I recently came across the concept of a roasted garlic vinaigrette and it sounded really good! It just so happened that I had some roasted garlic and I decided to make the vinaigrette. I also had some roasted garlic olive oil that I used in place of the regular olive oil. The roasted garlic vinaigrette was really tasty! I enjoyed it on salads and asparagus this week. The asparagus was some of the first of the locally grown asparagus that showed up at the farmers market for the first time on the weekend.

Ingredients:
1 head roasted garlic (mashed)
1/4 cup roasted garlic olive oil (or olive oil)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Mix everything in a small bowl.





Similar Recipes:
Oven Dried Tomato Vinaigrette

Oven Dried Tomato Vinaigrette

It seems that I have been eating a lot of salads lately. Another one of my favorite salad dressings is a sun died tomato vinaigrette. Since I had just oven dried some tomatoes I thought that I would make my own oven died tomato vinaigrette. I have been eating a lot of Greek style salads lately so I though I would try the oven died tomato vinaigrette on a Greek Salad. It made for a pretty nice light lunch.

Ingredients:
1 oven dried tomato (or sun dried tomatoes, pureed in food processor)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon white or red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic (chopped)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Mix everything.

Similar Recipes:
Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette
Roast Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette