Even after a year of diving into traditional real foods, I'm still amazed at what I can create on my own. We as a society are so programmed to search out products that are already made for us. So when I started looking at the ingredients on salad dressings I was appalled to find that not one out there was suitable for my new diet.
Here are the ingredients for Kraft's Ranch dressing: WATER, SOYBEAN OIL, SUGAR, GARLIC JUICE, BUTTERMILK, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF SALT, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, WHEY, PHOSPHORIC ACID, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, EGG WHITES, VINEGAR, XANTHAN GUM, CITRIC ACID, POLYSORBATE 60, SPICE, NATURAL FLAVOR, ENZYMES, WITH SODIUM LACTATE, NATAMYCIN, AND CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA AS PRESERVATIVES. CONTAINS: MILK, EGG.
It really isn't hard to make your own salad dressing. I whipped this up in under five minutes without a recipe. I just started throwing things together and kept tasting until I liked what I had. Here's what went into it: milk kefir, fresh parmesan, fresh basil, fresh garlic, sea salt, raw honey, dried dill, pastured egg yolk, 1/2 an avocado, tumeric, and dried parsley. It's absolutely delicious and I call it 'Green Goddess'. ;)
Here's the lunch I made with it. Green salad topped with canned wild salmon, avocado, and green goddess dressing. With a side of sourdough english muffins topped with homemade raw chevre cheese. This is a lunch that I felt good serving my husband. I had a much smaller version without the bread and cheese.
I'm still after the perfect loaf of sourdough bread. It's not that there aren't good recipes out there. The e-course lesson this week has a great tutorial on sourdough bread. I followed it, but still ended up with a dense, flat disc. I put 10 minutes of kneading energy into these loaves along with hours of waiting time. Do you really think I'm going to toss this?? Heck no!
I transformed them into croutons. Cut the disc into cubes, toss with parmesan cheese, sea salt, garlic powder, italian seasoning, and olive oil. Bake until crisp. Wonderful on salads!
Shalom Tara, I subscribed to your blog yesterday. It sounds like we have something in common, making up our own recipes as we go along! I love it, what a refreshing thought.
blessings
carmen
Posted by: carmen | June 11, 2010 at 07:29 AM