Summer Salad Dressings

In the summer, I love my salads.
With all those greens and added veggies, they are so very nourishing.
But to keep them light in calories and sodium,
here are some of the dressings that I like to drizzle over them.

Calorie-wise dressings

1. Most creamy dressings have 70 calories/Tbsp.  So I choose light creamy dressings.  One of my favourites is Kraft Calorie Wise Ranch dressing at 35 calories/Tbsp.  I love using it as an easy summer dip for veggies.
2. For potato or macaroni salads, I use Hellmann’s Light (1/2 the Fat) mayonnaise or Miracle Whip dressing.  At 40 calories/Tbsp, the calories are less than half those of regular mayonnaise (100 calories/Tbsp) with all the taste!
3. When eating out I order my dressing on the side.  This is important because the average portion of salad dressings in a restaurant is 3-4 Tbsp!  At 70 calories per Tbsp for regular creamy dressings this can add up to almost 300 calories!  I dip my fork into the dressing for each bite of salad and use a fraction of the amount served.
   Better yet, order an oil and vinegar type dressing.  Creamy dressings cling to the leaves but a lot of the oil and vinegar dressing falls to the bottom of the bowl and you end up eating less.
4. When at home go for Kraft Calorie Wise Italian Dressing.  At 5 calories/Tbsp it is the lowest calorie dressing I have found.  I like to use it as a marinate.  Add it to a mixture of cut up broccoli, cauliflower, mini carrots and grape tomatoes.  Let stand for a couple of hours in the refrigerator and then serve!

 

Tasty, low sodium dressings

Homemade salad dressings that are fast and easy and low in sodium:

1. Add a dazzle of olive oil and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar straight from the bottle onto your salad.  Just like they do in Italy!
2. Mix 3 Tbsp olive oil, 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 crushed clove of garlic, ¼ tsp Dijon mustard, salt and pepper to taste.

Commercial salad dressings:

1. The lowest sodium commercial dressing that I have found is Raspberry Merlot from Bolthouse Farms at just 25 mg sodium/Tbsp.
2. Check out the sodium on the labels of the dressings in your refrigerator.  Some high sodium dressings I found were ones I thought would be low sodium.  For example:  Kraft Oil and Vinegar at 200 mg sodium/Tbsp and Newman’s Lite Balsamic Dressing at 175 mg sodium/Tbsp!

Treat yourself to health!
Ruth

To see my interview on Edmonton CTV News at Noon, click on Summer Salad Dressings