| salad dressing...no need to buy it |

Here's the story....you really don't need to buy salad dressing. I've been making my own for a good long while, but always got messed up because I couldn't figure out how to make/store it in larger quantities. But then - THEN! - I read in a book by Ellyn Satter that if you use 1/2 olive oil and 1/2 salad dressing oil (you know, like canola or vegetable oil) that you can keep it in the fridge and the oil won't get all hard and weird. So....make some salad dressing! Here's how...

- You want a ratio of 2:1 on the oil and acids. So I usually use 1/3 c olive oil, 1/3 canola oil, and then 1/3 cup acids.
- Acids can be anything like lemon juice, lime juice, red wine vinegar, rice vinegar, balsamic vinegar (any kind of vinegar, dig it?)
- Add salt and pepper
- Add some spices/flavor if you want...fresh herbs, dried onion, dried garlic, cumin, paprika, basil, whatever you love. Parmesan cheese is also a nice add on. So is mustard powder or whole grain mustard.
- Taste it. If it tastes like it "needs something" it probably needs some sweetness. Try a teaspoon of sugar, or honey, or brown sugar, or some orange juice, or agave...or whatever you like that's sweet. Oh, JAM is also great! You can get a tasty raspberry vinaigrette by just adding raspberry preserves.

Put it in a jar and shake it up. Keeps in the fridge. Makes you happy. Saves money. Doesn't have a lot of weird crap in it.