Having a salad before a meal makes me feel healthier, especially when I’m eating something fattening like my favorite mac n cheese. 🙂 Getting my daily veggie servings in completes a meal.
I like to get creative with some seasonal salads, like my Fall Apple Salad. But usually I like a traditional green salad as an appetizer.  My favorite ingredients in a classic mixed green salad are tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, and fresh mozzarella. (And I recently discovered that tomatoes, onions, and several other vegetables should NOT be refrigerated – read this article for why.)
A simple healthy salad
To me, dressing can make or break a salad. Â Unfortunately, it can also make a salad super fattening and cancel out what you thought was a guilt-free meal. Â Some are too sweet and sugary and it’s just not how a salad should be dressed.
Lady in green – I stole this from Kiley’s college art project.
So, I recently started making my own dressings and now, I won’t go back to the bottled stuff. Â I know what goes into it and can be certain there is nothing artificial. Â The dressing is as fresh as the salad!
All it takes is a few simple ingredients: honey, Dijon, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.
Just mix the ingredients, and enjoy your homemade dressing – better, healthier, and cheaper than the store-bought stuff.
When I know I’ll have salad a few days in a row, I’ll make it in my homemade dressing bottle – available at Target, Crate & Barrel, HomeGoods, or pretty much any home store.  This one even has some recipes on the side. Of course mine are better. 😉
A glass salad dressing bottle makes it a convenient staple in your fridge – but it’s homemade!
And the left overs can go into my lunchbox for a healthy packed lunch.
Save some salad and dressing and pack it for a healthy lunch. These dressing containers are from Dollar Tree – 20 contains for $1!!
The best part about this salad dressing, is you can substitute the balsamic for anything to get different flavors. Â Sub it for lemon juice to get a healthy lemon vinaigrette. Or, use red wine vinegar for a lighter vinaigrette. Â Add extra Dijon and honey to get honey mustard. The possibilities are endless…
I’ll also leave you with a tip from Ina Garten: if you are preparing a salad in advance, add the dressing to the bottom of the salad bowl. Â When you are ready to serve, just toss the salad well and it will be fresh, not soggy.
Enjoy!
Homemade Balsamic Dressing
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- pinch of salt
- pinch of pepper
- pinch of Italian seasoning (optional)
- 1/8 c. olive oil
- 1/4 balsamic vinegar
Mix honey, Dijon, and spices. Â Stir in olive oil, then add balsamic. Â Mix well and serve.
Refrigerate leftovers for up to 1 week.
This entry is from over 2 years ago, but I pinned the recipe for the homemade balsamic dressing a couple months ago & just got around to trying it today. I tend to botch every recipe I find on Pinterest, otherwise the recipe is just disappointing. But this dressing is FANTASTIC! And I’m not even a big fan of balsamic vinaigrette! The best part is, I had almost everything I needed for it in my pantry already. Thanks a bunch, it’s my new favorite!