I keep bottled stuff for those who like it. But I have two favorites I make. One is a honey lemon vinaigrette and one is more like a French. So much better than bottled chemicals! :) (I sound like a food snob, but I'm really not!) :)

Homemade - olive oil based, with variations. A favorite thing to do is not to make the dressing in advance but to add the ingredients directly to the salad, keeping it simple.

I'm partial to Zesty Italian and ranch. Both are basics that can be mixed into salads and other cooking. We also use a lot of olive oil with Balsamic vinegar. Sometimes I substitute cottage cheese with a little salt and pepper.

Homemade here, too!

Almost never buy bottled. The two bottled dressings I like are Marzetti's cole slaw dressing and Cardini's Caesar dressing. I'll make my own Caesar for company but since we don't eat Caesar salad all that often, I'll use Cardini's when we do. I'll also use Good Seasons dressing mix or Hidden Valley Ranch mix but mostly make my own vinaigrette's or French dressing.

Big salad dressing user here, made fresh for every salad. I keep a few different vinegars and oils on hand, lemons and limes in the fridge, herbs in the garden. OF, we love a creamy buttermilk dressing, sometimes loaded with bleu cheese.

I use most of my different dressing mixtures as marinades or grilling sauces for meats and vegetables.

I love a mixture of lemon juice/oil/herbs.

I like freshly mixed oil and vinegar or oil and lemon juice, both made with herbs and without herbs. I always have a bottle of honey mustard on hand for my father and plain mayonnaise for my mother. I never feel like making mayonnaise from scratch.

Hidden Valley Ranch Buttermilk dressing, from the dry mix for a big shrimp salad

Lighthouse Blue Cheese sometimes with a little Catalina on top for a green salad

Lighthouse Caesar dressing for Caesar salads

Italian with some fresh grated Parmesan, heated, for a warm spinach salad with sauteed mushrooms

A Pa. Dutch Bacon Dressing that I got here a million years ago (I think from Sharon?) for a classic spinach salad. I could bathe in that dressing! And I've got two girlfriends who grab up a couple of jars whenever I make it.

I love the Gerard's dressings in the triangular bottle. Champagne, White Basalmic, and Chinese Chicken are my favorites.

I can't stand Italian dressing (unless homemade).

When out I usually get bleu cheese.

Yum!

I make an olive oil and red wine vinegar dressing. I crush cloves of garlic (gotta keep those vampires away), into the bowl, add a bit of salt, use a fork to whip in the olive oil, add the vinegar and whip it with the fork until it thickens slightly.

I let this set at room temperature until I'm ready to toss in all the salad veggies.

I use this dressing 99.9% of the time when I make salad.

naughtykitty, just bought a bottle of the Girard's light champagne dressing. It was called for as a marinade for an appetizer I'm making for tonight. The recipe is from Southern Living and it was the dressing they used for test purposes.

I typically don't eat salad, but sometimes I do crave one. Only one. At a restaurant here, Rafferty's, they have "house mustard honey hot bacon" dressing. Um, not healthy. But oh so delicious! Rafferty's is in IN, KY, TN, SC, and GA.

Here is a link that might be useful: not me, but boy I agree!

caroline, try adding a teaspoon of Dijon mustard to your vinaigrette, you'll find it emulsifies the mixture and makes it much more tasty. You may need to give it a second quick stir before adding the salad ingredients if you make it more than a few minutes in advance.

You can adjust the mustard quantity and use either more or less, depending on the size of the salad and your taste preference.

I use no dressing at all~~really confuses wait staff when I order a big salad out and no dressing~~they always bing me some;) Most places put way to much dressing on a salad, I started getting it on the side and doing the Weight Watchers way of dipping the fork in the dressing them picking up the salad~~slowly I just gave it up. I use an infused olive oil once in a great while if I feel the need, it does make a kale salad easier to go down.

MIL shared many of her wonderful recipes with me, and this is very similar to her.

Blue cheese dressing with no sour cream

She kept it in a mason jar in the refrig and one of the favorite ways of her serving it was with a wedge of lettuce, pour dressing over and topped with bacon crumbles

Ingredients
â¢1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
â¢1/2 cup mayonnaise
â¢1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
â¢1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
â¢1 small garlic clove, minced
â¢1/4 teaspoon salt
â¢2 ounces crumbled firm blue cheese (1/2 cup)
â¢1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Blend buttermilk, mayonnaise, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and salt in a food processor until smooth. . Add blue cheese and pulse until cheese is incorporated but dressing is still slightly chunky.

This post was edited by glenda_al on Thu, Jul 24, 14 at 15:55

how much butter milk glenda????

blue cheese is our favorite if we use dressing...I prefer something lighter...balsamic vinegar and oil ..