Salad dressing is a relatively expensive item in the market, but it’s amazingly easy to make your own. This is my basic vinaigrette recipe. You can vary it by substituting different vinegars (balsamic, raspberry, etc.) or lemon or lime juice, or adding blue cheese crumbles and/or fresh herbs. If I’m using the dressing right away, I use all olive oil. However, if it will be stored in the fridge, the olive oil will solidify. Using part Canola helps solve this problem. This recipe makes about 1½ cups, but if you keep the approximate proportions, you can make as much or as little as you want.
- ½ C red or white wine vinegar
- ½ C olive oil
- ½ C canola oil
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. dry mustard powder
- ½ tsp. black pepper
- 1 tsp. sugar
Combine vinegar and seasonings in an empty jar that holds at least 2 cups. Shake until well blended. Add oil(s) and shake again to thoroughly blend. (You can also whisk it all together in a bowl, or use the blender.)
You’ll need to shake well before pouring on a salad.
Compost 
Yummmm!!!
It’s amazingly easy too. Once you get the hang of it, no real measuring involved.
(I still let Leslie make the dressing 99.99% of the time. Somehow it just turns out better that way 🙂 )
can you compost dressing you don’t use?… or dressed salad that has lots of olive oil on the leaves?
great website !
Glad you like my blog. 😎 According to my books, it’s generally not a good idea to compost any sort of fat, and that would include olive oil. I can’t say from experience as I’ve never tried it. One important consideration would be the salt in the dressing. At least here in Colorado, we have so little rain that the salt just stays in the soil, and eventually builds up to the point where nothing will grow. Instead, why not just save the dressing for the next salad?