The Zest is Yet to Come!

 My Family and I have been enjoying everything homemade. A few years ago we started cutting out seed oils, especially found within ultra processed foods. This led to only the use of Avocado Oil and Extra Virgin Olive Oil. 

Now, we typically enjoy a salad with dinner, but understanding that there is very few affordable clean-ingredient dressings on the shelf, we needed to create our own salad dressing. My Grandma always made her salad dressing from scratch. It's so refreshing and light, and I decided to piggy back off of what she taught me. Unfortunately, I won't be sharing Grandma's recipe today...it's a secret ;)

First, I start off with the theory of salad dressing: You will need a base oil of your choosing, and acid, an emulsifier, and seasoning. 

For my exact recipe that I make daily, we use:

3 tbsp EVOO

1 Whole Lemon (freshly squeezed)

1 tbsp of dijon mustard

3-4 cracks of Trader Joe's Everyday Seasoning*

For substitution suggestions, I think rice wine vinegar is a great acid and honey is an excellent emulsifier especially if you're including some fruit or nuts in your salad. If you're looking for a creamy salad dressing, you can also try using mayo or greek yogurt as an emulsifier. For the seasoning you can use a simple Italian blend with a pinch of garlic and some red pepper flakes especially if you're including onions in your salad. Trust me that combination pairs wonderfully. 

*The exact amount of each ingredient is unknown, but it is listed: Sea Salt, Mustard Seeds, Black Peppercorns, Coriander Seed, Dried Onion, Dried Garlic, Paprika, Red Chili Pepper Flakes.