Mmmmmm Salad Dressing to....

Salad, it's what for dinner, but you have to have dressing!

The other night I reached for my favorite bottled salad dressing to see how much sugar was in it, 4 grams of Sugar!  Maybe to you that does not sound like much but to a diabetic that means a lot. That means for every serving, 2 Tablespoons a serving of dressing, there is 1 teaspoon of sugar.  On top of that, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar will put the immune system to sleep for up to 4 hours.  So just that one serving of sugar would put your immune system to sleep for 8 hours. YIKES! Think, if we consume up to 10 teaspoons of sugar a day or more that equates to seeing the Doctor a lot over the course of a year(1). How many grams of sugar in a single coke can?

It becomes a rude awakening when you begin reading nutrition labels and start jotting down how much sugar is in a serving of food.  Try it for a day and you will be amazed to see how much sugar you are consuming without realizing it. 

But I digress...I decided that I needed to start making my own salad dressings instead, so I could control the amount of sugar I was ingesting. I have come up with several that I really like, but this dressing takes the cake, so to speak.  I call it... 

"Boy That's Damn Good Dressing"! Gluten-Free

Equipment:

Good Seasonings Shaker Bottle 

Markings indicate fill lines

Ingredients:

2 Tbs    Fresh Pesto

            Extra Virgin Olive Oil (The good stuff)

            White Wine Vinegar

            Balsamic Vinegar

1 scant Tbs Mrs Dash Garlic and Herb Seasoning
1 scant Tbs Greek Seasoning See recipe below
1/8 tsp Pink Sea Salt or regular sea salt. 

            Filtered Water

            Pepper

Homemade Gluten-Free Greek Seasoning

2 tsp Himalayan Pink Salt

1 tsp basil

2 tsp dried oregano

½ tsp thyme

1 ½ tsp onion powder

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dill

1 tsp marjoram

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp dried parsley flakes

1 tsp rosemary

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground nutmeg

Grind in food grinder and store in tight closing container. Makes about 3/4 Cup.

Instructions:

In a clean Good Seasonings Shaker bottle pour in enough white wine vinegar to come half way up to the add vinegar line.

White Wine Vinegar

Pour enough Balsamic Vinegar to reach the top of the Vinegar line.

Balsamic Vinegar

Add filtered water to the top of the water line.  

Water

Mrs Dash, Greek Seasoning, Sea Salt and Pepper

Add about a Tablespoon each of the Mrs Dash Garlic and Herb Seasoning and Homemade Greek Seasoning. Add about an eighth of a teaspoon of the pink sea salt (found at your local health food store) add pepper, this depends on how much you like pepper.  I put a pinch in. 

Shake Well

Add Extra Virgin Olive Oil up to the oil line.

Shake again

Add 2 heaping Tbs. of fresh Pesto (purchased from your local market that makes it fresh)

Shake and let set for 20 minutes for flavors to meld.

The finished product, no additives, fillers,
 stabilizers or  preservatives.

Make it your own, add more of something or delete something.

The next time I might add just a touch of  juice from the Pepperoncini bottle. Wow! that would give it a nice kick! Or I might add some finely crumbled Fete Cheese YUM! The sky is the limit.

When you make this, leave a comment in the comment box below and let me know what you changed up.

Peace, Love and Happy Eating...

(1) Paul Chek, Holistic Life Coach http://chekinstitute.com/blog/
14 Day Sugar Detox by Paleovalley, Page 36  "Sugar Shuts down
Your Immune System"