Monday, May 5, 2008

Judge-judge-judge

It's fairly easy to write a preachy "I would never do that" post, and it's fairly common to find those types of posts lurking around personal finance blogs. A lot of them are amusing, some are thought provoking, and some prove that everyone is their own person.

One of the things that I don't "get" is why people buy dressings for their salad.

(Confession: I do buy blue cheese in a bottle. This is because T. Marzetti is the best ever and I find that blue cheese costs enough that it's just as efficient for me to buy the dressing on sale.)

It is SO easy to make an absolutely delicious dressing that exceeds anything I've found over the counter. Believe me, I've tried quite a few in my time. Why? Because I hadn't yet learned how easy it was.

Sure, I had made my own dressing, but I didn't learn this one trick...

Mix in olive oil!

I had always put some herbs and spices on the salad and threw some vinegar, usually balsamic, over it. It worked but it certainly wasn't great.

One day when I was musing out loud I received some insight from my mom. I love caprese salads (tomato/mozzarella/basil/balsamic dressing) and it's one of the only salads I've actually purchased when eating out. We make it at home all the time but the dressing just wasn't the same, and that's a big deal breaker with this salad. "Oh, just add some EVOO in the blender. You have to add it slowly."

So guess what I've made fresh just about every day since then? You got it--homemade salad dressings.

My favorite is balsamic vinegar but we use all kinds. Tarragon white is also pretty good. I put my herbs and spices into the blender, dump a bunch of vinegar in, add a tad bit of sugar, and then put the lid on. "Blend" then slowly raise the center part and drizzle the oil in slowly. It ends up being absolutely delicious and far better than anything you can get at the store.

Now that I know the trick I wouldn't even consider buying it. Why bother? I can have a different type every day. One day I might have a tarragon/oregano dressing. The next I might have basil and garlic. The following day might be a rosemary/sage. It never gets old and it sure costs a lot less!

2 comments:

SavingDiva said...

I buy dressing because I'm lazy...simple and easy!

Anonymous said...

I'm pretty darn lazy too! (I totally admire that you run/bike all the time.) It seriously takes less than three minutes. Plug in blender by spice rack, pour in spices, pour in vinegar, turn on, pour in oil, pour on salad, and put in dishwasher. Done! =-) I guess if I wasn't so picky about having a variety in my diet I'd buy store bought too. Or, if I didn't have a blender. Or for a number of reasons.