salad help wanted

[TelephoneAngel]

so tonight i made myself the most awesome tasty chef salad with

tomatoes cucumber endive spring onion ham cheese lettuce beetroot celery

and a little red wine vinegar dressing

then i wondered if i could make an all natural dressing

maybe with tomatoes or lemons and some herb leaves (not with oil/vinegar0

i know google is my friend but i wantto know if you guys do anything similar.

[Whiskey]

Olive oil is the base for a lot of my homemade dressings. Its a good fat so its good to eat (in moderation). I usually put a little lemon zest, maybe some oregano, heat it in a pan on medium for a bit until it gets really fragrant then let it cool and use it.

As far as no olive oil, I can't help you. The only alternative to oil/vinegar that I can think of, off the top of my head, is mayo-ladden ranch.

[Seshat]

Whatever tastes good to you is fine.

There's nothing wrong - diet-wise - with vinegar. It's not calorie-laden or anything, so you can use it fairly freely.
(Also, vinegar is quite natural. Wine vinegar or cider vinegar are just deliberately spoiled wine or cider - to maximise the acetic acid and yet let some of the wine/cider flavours stay.)

Lemon juice would be a good substitute that would provide tartness, as would lime juice. Note that any fruit juice would add calories in the form of fructose - calories the vinegar option lacks.

Olive oil provides you with essential fatty acids, things your brain uses to make neurochemicals (you need those to think with). In moderation, olive oil, linseed oil, oily fish, and ... um ... other EFA-high oils are VERY VERY VERY good for you. Like, MEGA-IMPORTANT.
Admittedly, you only need a couple of teaspoons-worth a day. Maybe just one. But if you don't have EFAs, you may as well be trying to think through a fog.

[MaggieTheCat]

then i wondered if i could make an all natural dressing

maybe with tomatoes or lemons and some herb leaves (not with oil/vinegar0

I'm just curious as to why you said this, since oil (something like olive oil, at least) and vinegar ARE natural ingredients.

Anyway, as others have said, a little oil and vinegar is not going to hurt anything. I did make one salad dressing a few times with no oil but it did have vinegar in it. It was raspberry vinegar, fresh raspberries, and a bit of sugar or honey. You can add oil to it but I actually left it out a couple times I made it and still thought it was pretty good. It was very thick (if you put TOO much vinegar in it to thin it out, it gets really sour, too much for me) but I just mixed it up in the greens before eating.

[Jester]

I have made a fantastic red wine vinegairette before, though I can't remember exactly how at the moment. Also, for one salad I make myself, I use just a teaspoon of olive oil and the juice of a whole lime, and it is perfect. Nice and light and refreshing. A little oil goes a long way when paired with citrus juice.

[TelephoneAngel]

thanks guys.I guess i should have said not "natural ingrediants" but unprocessed ingrediants (oil and vinegar go through processing to get them into that state) i really meant just fruits and vegetables.but if oil and vinegar isn't that bad then I'll keep using it.

the oil and lime juice sounds nice i will try that.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Get cold pressed extra virgin olive oil. It's not heated and it's the least processed. Olive Oil is extremely good for you, and people have been using it for thousands of years.

Vinegar is simply wine deliberatly spoiled with a particular (naturally occuring) kind of bacteria. Red wine vinegar was at one time, red wine, apple cider vinegar was hard cider. Balsamic vinegar is vinegar aged in an oak cask. People have been also usiing vinegar for thousands of years.

These are about as close as you can get to natural ingredients that aren't actually found in nature. They are not toxic chemicals or alien to your body, and are probably better for you than any store bought dressing.

I like to make various flavored oils by putting extra virgin into a cruet with any combo of garlic chunks, fresh rosemary, oregano, celery seed, hot pepper and let it sit around a bit, Then you mix it with a little salt and pepper and some vinegar of your choice (I like red wine vinegar with a dollop of balsamic...balsamic is sweet to my taste, so I use it sparingly). Makes a very nice home made vinegar dressing.