Three easy homemade salad dressing recipes

Ugh, salad dressing. OK, here is the deal: I don't like vegetables. About 95 percent of the time, I can only handle them in "salad" form. (Or hummus! Hummus counts as a vegetable, right?) Ever since going low-carb, I have been eating a lot of salads.

But guess what? A few weeks ago, I discovered that every single salad dressing in the grocery store contains sugar. Italian dressing, ranch dressing, Thousand Island dressing, Caesar dressing… sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar.

What's a low-carb eater to do? Now some of you might say "Eat regular vegetables like a grown-up human being." Shut up. No, the answer is to make your own salad dressing from home. This is the best way to control all of the dietary variables, complicated as they can often be.

1. Hidden Valley Ranch and Italian dressings (from packet)
At most grocery stores, there's a section on the salad dressing aisle stocked with packets of ranch and Italian dressing mixes. The packet version of these dressings often contain no sugar (always check the ingredients to be sure). This is definitely the easiest way to go: Just mix the packet with a few simple ingredients and you're ready to go. (If you make ranch dressing, beware the mayo, which contains sugar. I make it with my own homemade (and sugar-free) mayo.)

Down side: May require a "cruet."

2. Simple Italian dressing
I learned this one years ago. I don't remember where. Mix olive oil and red wine or balsamic vinegar in about a 3:1 ratio. Add a dash of salt and pepper, some minced garlic, and a small blob of mustard (it emulsifies the mixture).

Down side: Container can get greasy in the fridge from leftover dribbles of oil.

3. Citrus vinaigrette
This recipe sounds delicious, and so summery! Vinaigrettes are naturally low-carb and easy to make. But I have to confess, I often find them too tart and bitter for my taste.

Main image courtesy Flickr/Acquired Life