Make Your Own Salad Dressing At Home

I love making my own salad dressing for several reasons.  I like to have control of what ingredients are in my food so I tend to buy single ingredient foods/products so I can make my own recipes and meals.  I also like variety.  If I had all the variety in salad dressings that I wanted, my refrigerator door would be nothing but salad dressings.  That's just not gonna work.  So, I keep a variety of oils, vinegars, herbs and spices on hand along with my favorite dijon mustard which is great in dressings.  With a decent variety of these main ingredients the possibilities are almost endless.  Below I've provided a list of must-have-at-all-times ingredients and one of my favorite summer salad dressing recipes.

Must-have-at-all-times ingredients:
variety of vinegars (balsamic, rice, flavored, wine, etc.)
variety of sweeteners (sugar, honey, maple syrup, jams, etc.)
variety of oils (walnut, almond, olive, canola, sesame, etc.)
fresh garlic
fresh onion (I prefer sweet for using raw)
dijon mustard
cupboard full of herbs and spices
fresh ground black pepper
glass jars (reused jam jars are great) to shake and store dressings in

Tart Cherry Vinaigrette
Recipe by Courtney Stinson

Ingredients:
1 tablespoons red tart cherry juice concentrate
1 tablespoon fig infused white balsamic vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons honey
6 tablespoons almond oil
½ teaspoon dried marjoram
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons minced sweet onion
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
Pinch of ground black pepper
Pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to mini food processor or blender and blend until        mixture is well blended and garlic is minced small.
2. Let dressing sit refrigerated for at least one hour before serving.
3. Serve drizzled over a bed of baby greens or bib lettuce.

Salad idea:
Baby greens
Arugula
Slivered roasted almonds
Gorgonzola cheese
Cherry tomatoes

Nutrition Facts for Salad Dressing alone (without salad)