That's One Tasty Italian

I’m still here. I hope you’re still there! Did you miss me? I've just been working on some balance. Life got a little crazy and I had to pay some more attention to it. Thanks for understanding. I feel like we’re those kind of friends - we can see each other every day for a while, and then when things get hectic it might be a few weeks or months before we touch base. And when we do catch up, we’ll pick up right where we left off. We’ll meet for coffee and giggle (cackle?) in the back of the coffee shop, and people will wonder what’s wrong with us. But we’re great. And that’s just how we are.

I have all kinds of updates for you. Good food. Funny stories. Drama. Comedy. Dramedy. I’ll save the updates for tomorrow because I’m baking a cake (it’s grain free and dairy free!!) and I feel like my updates need some cake to go along with them.

So, I should probably get to today’s business, eh?

Do yourself a favor and go get the salad dressing out of your fridge. Now look at the ingredient list. It’s a mile long, it’s FILLED with stuff you can’t pronounce. Not to mention the crazy amount of refined salt, sugar, gluten, and soy (Edit: And the corn! Ugh. The corn.) . Oy vey. When I first changed my diet, salad dressing was one of my biggest hurdles. I don’t know why I couldn’t wrap my mind around the idea that it wasn’t going to be as big a chore as I thought. Making my own dressings would take less than five minutes, taste a gajillion times better than the stuff I’d been buying at the store, and last a week or two. No biggie.

The one that I’m sharing today is our standby, of the Italian variety. When I say it in my head, I like to say EYE-TAL-YEN. It doesn’t matter how you say it, though, because it’s sooo good. My dressing has 8 beautiful ingredients, and it’s SUPER nutritious. No guilt. It’s tasty. It’s fast. You’ll love it.

AND, just in case you don't love it, YOU can change it! Let this recipe inspire you, and make it your own. It's what I did when this recipe popped up on my Pinterest feed one day. It was great already, and then I made it great for us. If you are used to all the sugary dressings from the grocery store, you might not be ready to go totally sugar free. In that case, add a little raw honey, and it'll be perfect. Would you rather use fresh lemon juice instead of the vinegar? The world is your oyster, my friend!

Oh, and in case you are wondering, it’s totally Paleo, WAPF, GAPS, dairy and grain free. It works great as a marinade, too. Do me a favor if you make it, and come back here to leave some comments with your review, questions, thoughts, poems, etc. Ok? Thanks!

Tasty Italian Dressing

1/4 onion, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 C. Raw apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 C. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tsp Celtic Sea Salt, Finely Ground

2 tsp Freshly Ground, Black Pepper

2 1/2 tsp Basil, dried

2 1/2 tsp Oregano, dried

2 tsp Mustard, prepared You’ve got two options here:

1. Fast Put all of your ingredients in a blender or food processor, except for the EVOO. Turn the blender on, open the top, and pour the EVOO in SLOWLY. This will ensure that your dressing emulsifies and gets thick and creamy. As soon as your EVOO is all mixed in, you are done. Pour your dressing into a mason jar and stick it in the fridge.

2. Speedy Gonzalez Put all of your ingredients into a mason jar, seal the lid up tight and shake the heck out of it. Your dressing will be wonderful, with little bits of delicious everywhere. It won’t get smooth and creamy, but it’s still pretty amazing.

Enjoy!

Linking Up: Real Food Forager, Fat Tuesday, May 21, 2013