Easy Balsamic Vinaigrette

I have been dying to make my own salad dressing and I finally did it!

And it's healthy! And delicious! And makes you want to eat salad!

As it turns out it's super easy to make a vinaigrette that is tailored to your own tastes. You just need a particular ratio of oil to vinegar/balsamic and then season however you prefer! When I made this dressing I didn't actually need to season it as I had bottles of flavored/infused olive oil and balsamic that I received in the gift exchange with Michael's family. (His cousin lives in Pennsylvania and there's a store there-called the Lavendar Rabbit-where he bought the oils and balsamics. I happen to love salad with apples and garlic-y kind of flavors and, luckily, there was a bottle of Parmesan Garlic Rosemary olive oil and a Red Apple Balsamic! Yum! In the future, since my delicious flavored options are now gone, I'm sure I'll be using some garlic powder and things of that nature to spice it up.

So, like I was saying...easy. You just whisk together the ingredients and then pour it into whatever bottle you wish to serve/store the dressing in. And-as long as you don't add any perishable items (such as Parmesan cheese)-you can even store it at room temperature for a month or so. The oil and vinegar will separate so you just need to shake well before drizzling over your favorite salad. Making healthy eating delicious!

Homemade Ranch Dressing

I'm such an annoying lady sometimes. I know it. I just can't leave poor Michael in peace. All he wants is to eat his pizza rolls and spaghetti-o's, and I can't stop trying to take food he likes and make it from scratch.

But liiike....a girl's gotta try, right?

I really don't give the boy enough credit. He actually eats, probably, healthier than me. He's much better about eating his veggies. And he's a total champ at eating salads. Sometimes...when at a restaurant...he'll even order one...AS HIS MEAL *gasp* I can't even fathom that. A salad...for a meal? Does not compute in Kayle's brain.

Anyway, since we tend to have little side salads fairly frequently around our lil home, I was really excited about the idea of tackling a homemade ranch dressing recipe for Michael (I don't mind ranch but I'm more of an Italian/oil based dressing gal myself).

and I did.

Was it a success?

Sort of. Maybe. 

On the first attempt of making this recipe, it was entirely too garlicky for Michael's tastes (so I've adjusted the garlic/scallion amounts below) and seemed to be missing something. I researched ranch dressing a bit and determined we needed dill. So I added that and it definitely helped. So Michael kind of likes it. But not as much as storebought. BUT I haven't attempted it with less garlic yet. I'll keep ya posted on that.

Anyway, all that said...

I like garlic.

I actually like this dressing better than the kind you buy. And you don't have to stress about what you're putting on your salad and whether or not that's negating any healthiness you're getting (which...if you're me...is the entire reason you're eating the green things in the first place). You should def. give it a shot, and maybe customize it a bit to your taste! PLUS hey it's a new year, and I'm sure many of us have resolutions for healthiness or some such, am I right?

What sort of storebought recipes do you want to/like to try to recreate/replace with homemade?