homemade salad dressing Archives | Heavenly Homemakers

Hit the Restart Button: Eat More Salads ~ Try Our Homemade Salad Dressing Recipes

September 2, 2014 by Laura 17 Comments

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I have homemade salad dressing recipes for you!

Let’s just say you are hitting the restart button this fall in an effort be healthier. If I could give you just one piece of advice for making one simple change, it would have to be this: Eat more salads.

And also drink more water and cut back on sugar. And eat real butter instead of margarine.

Apparently I feel strongly about more than one aspect of making healthy changes and I just can’t not mention butter in a post about making changes in your diet. But today, I really do want to focus on eating salads. With a big glass of water on the side. Plus you should never, ever eat margarine.

Soooo, salads. We all know they are good for us. The reason I bring them up today is because I think they are a fantastic way for all of us to hit the restart button and fill up on nourishing foods. The possibilities are endless when it comes to building a salad. This means that none of us have excuses as to “not liking” what’s in front of us. You can pick what you put in it, for goodness sake. Green leaf, red leaf, romaine, spinach, cucumbers, peas, carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms, sweet peppers, onions, and on it goes. Then you can put dressing all over it – the kind you like best. You can even put bacon and cheese in your salad. If that’s not a reason to eat a bowl full of green leafy vegetables, I don’t know what is.

It is now easier than ever to make super healthy salads. Do you have these little gems at your grocery store?

They are pre-washed, so all you have to do is throw the greens in a bowl or on your plate. No excuses!

I highly encourage you to make a variety of tossed salads a bigger part of your life. I highly encourage you to make your own salad dressings with pure ingredients to keep your salads healthy. And I encourage you to eat butter.

Need some easy salad dressing recipe ideas? Hit the restart button by making a new salad dressing or two. You’ll find that it’s so nice to have Ranch Salad Dressing Mix and Italian Salad Dressing Mix made up in bulk so that you can quickly mix in liquid ingredients for fresh, healthy dressings.

You’ll find all of our homemade salad dressing recipes on this page (along with many other fun condiment recipes you’ll love). Here are our favorites at a quick glance…

Homemade Salad Dressing Recipes

How many times each week do you eat salad? Could you eat them more often? What is your favorite kind of salad dressing?

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Make Your Own Salad Dressings – A Simple Way to Eat Healthier

April 16, 2014 by Laura 9 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

If you’re looking for just one way to eat a healthier diet, I encourage you to look into making your own salad dressings. Here are our favorites along with the links to the recipes:

These are so easy to make, so fresh, so delicious. I like making big batches of the dressing mixes to have on hand. Then all I have to do when we’re out of salad dressing is grab the mix and stir it into the other ingredients. This gives us healthy salad dressings in just a few minutes. We’ve been eating a lot of salads lately, so making salad dressing has saved us a lot of money and kept us healthier too!

I’d really like to come up with a Caesar Salad Dressing too. Anyone have a good one to share?

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Funky Fresh Kitchen Challenge #1: Toss it Out ~ Make a Switch!

September 2, 2012 by Laura 306 Comments

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It’s time for our first challenge during the Month of the Funky Fresh Kitchen! Are you ready?

This challenge might just take a few minutes of your time — or it might take a few hours, depending on what you’d like to do. It’s all up to you – whatever you are ready for. No pressure, I promise. Small changes can be big changes, right? (That sounded so incredibly profound in my head…)

This week, your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to throw something out. Easy, right? Right. Although I’m not talking about your holey socks or your junk mail. (Although for Pete’s sake, please do something about your holey socks and your junk mail.)

I’m asking you to take a look around your kitchen. What needs to be thrown out? Is it a box of processed food you are trying to avoid eating as you are working your way toward eating more whole foods? Is it a plastic container that isn’t safe for serving or storing food? Is it a seasoning mix that has MSG in it?

Whatever it is…don’t look back. Just make the decision and throw it out. Pick just one thing – pick twenty things – pick whatever you’re up for.

Then replace what you’ve thrown out with a healthier choice. You can do it.

Here are just a few ideas to inspire you to make a “Toss it Out ~ Make a Switch” plan (but don’t feel as though you are limited to just these few ideas):

~ Toss out your sugary cereal and replace it with Homemade Granola
~ Toss out your bottled salad dressings that have MSG and high fructose corn syrup and make a homemade salad dressing
~ Toss out something plastic and replace it with glass. (I LOVE jars!)
~ Toss out your Hamburger Helper and make homemade Cheeseburger Macaroni
~ Toss out your white rice and replace it with brown rice
~ Toss out your chemical filled cleaners and replace it with a non-toxic cleaner
~ Toss out your boxed brownies and make homemade Fudgy Brownies. (Seriously, what an incredibly happy switch to make.)
~ Toss out the chips and replace them with fruit for snacking.
~ Toss out your sugar filled beverages and replace them with…water. :)

The possibilities are endless. Just pick one thing. Make one small baby step on your healthy eating journey. Then, if that goes well, consider tossing out something else and making another switch.

You’ve got until Friday, September 7 to meet this challenge. If I were you, I’d get off the computer right now (um, after you finish reading this post…) and jump right in before you lose your motivation. We’re all in this together. Be brave! Chuck the junk lurking in your pantry! (I refuse to be responsible for angry husbands, so if it’s his favorite snack, do consult him first before you chuck it. You knew that, right?)

Leave a comment here letting us know you’re taking the challenge. Have a plan forming in your mind? Share it! Participants (who leave a comment here) are eligible for our $25 and $50 Heavenly Homemakers Shop gift certificate drawings.

Are you a blogger? Share this challenge on your blog, tell your readers your Funky Fresh Kitchen plan to “Toss it Out ~ Make a Switch”, then come link up with us here so we can learn what you’re up to and be motivated!! Be sure to link back to this post so your readers will know how they can join the challenge too.

Are you ready? The trash can (or local food pantry, if you wish to donate) awaits…

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