Sultry Salad Dressing Series: Balsamic Dressing

It's no secret: I am a lover of salad! So much so, I eat some form of salad with every meal. Well... maybe not breakfast because that would be weird, but you get the idea! Sometimes though, I struggle with store-bought dressings. Some of them are heavy, high in fat and contain lots of salt, and I would much rather a healthy option. Even though a variety of healthier dressings are available, I thought it would be fun to make my own instead! So for the next few weeks, I'll be doing a Sultry Salad Dressing Series that's all about how to make your own salad dressing.

First up in the series is one of my favourites: Balsamic Dressing. I should mention that I have a really great tool for making my own dressing, and it was passed on to me by my mom. She originally bought this salad dressing bottle a few years ago, and it's just perfect! As pictured below, I can actually make and store the dressing in the bottle until it's gone!

Back to the recipe. The trick to making your own dressing is adding the liquid ingredients first, and then adding the spices.

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar
1 Clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp pepper

Mix the above ingredients together well, serve and enjoy! Refrigerate any left over dressing and you'll be able to enjoy it for weeks. If you try this recipe or if you have any feedback, leave a comment below!

Happy Monday! x

P.S. My endless summer salad is still flourishing! I'll post an update at the end of the summer.

Endless summer salad

Endless summer salad. Sounds amazing, doesn't it? Well, you can have endless summer salad, right in your own back yard (or back deck, to be more accurate!) No more romaine hearts in bags of three from the grocery store; no more spinach in bulk that wilts long before you've used it all. Who even knows what kind of pesticides that was even sprayed with! No more Farmer's Market to get my fresh salad greens either. This summer, I'm growing my own greens on my deck! Think you need a green thumb to do it? Think again. My thumb's anything but, and if it wasn't easy and low maintenance, I wouldn't be doing it. 

So here's how it works. Almost every garden center has a variety of different types of lettuce plants. Mine came from a local center just outside the city, but supermarkets usually carry them too. All you have to do is select the varieties of lettuce plants you would like. For example, I have three varieties of lettuce: Salad Bowl Red, Simpson Elite and Buttercrunch. Be careful what you choose! You could be eating this salad for awhile, so make sure it's something you like. After you buy the lettuce plants you'll need to transfer them to a larger pot, following the directions that come with each plant. Put them on your deck, make sure they are watered, and voila! Endless salad. Harvest the large leaves on the outside, wash, and enjoy. It's fast growing and fast yielding, and it's said to last through the end of the summer! You'll be surprised at how quickly it grows. I've had my plants for 2 weeks, and I've had a salad every day from them!

If you do want to try this out this season, I recommend calling ahead instead of making a special trip to your favourite local gardening center. I've heard these plants disappear quickly because of their growing popularity, so call ahead to make sure there's one there for you!   

I'll give you all an update late in August to let you know how my endless summer salad story concludes! Happy Monday! x