What dressing are you wearing?

As summer is fast approaching, many people have begun to watch what they eat. Salads seem to be people's go to as a healthy meal yet there’s one major component that makes a salad healthy or not; the dressing. Dressings can coat your salad with lots of calories without realizing it.

 

I am a lover of salads and have created my own simple dressing that goes well with a handful of different salad ingredients. Inspired by a similar dressing Giada De Laurentiis made, I created my own simple Lemon vinaigrette. 

Here’s how I make it:

2 parts olive oil

1 part fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp (aprox.) grated lemon zest

And a pinch of salt to taste. 

First squeeze lemon juice into a bowl, making sure no seeds slip in. Next add the lemon zest. While continuously whisking, slowly pour the olive oil in. Continue whisking until the mixture is combined, it should start to look white verses clear. Then add a pinch of salt for taste to bring out the flavors. I don’t add too much salt since I prefer to add the salt to the other ingredients of the salad before adding the dressing.

The dressing goes well with all sorts of combinations of ingredients because of its light and fresh taste. Today I chose to use a mixture of baby greens, tomato, yellow bell pepper, cucumber and a hardboiled egg.  

A good rule of thumb when picking a healthy salad dressing is, the clearer the better. For all my calorie counters out there here is the breakdown of calories for my salad dressing is Lemon juice – none; Olive Oil – 119 cal for a tablespoon. I’d say this would fit in nicely with your daily intake.