My sister makes this salad that is SO good, but the dressing (with the sugar and the oil) makes it not so healthy. Do you have any ideas for lightening it up but still retaining the basic flavor?
Here's the recipe:
1 pkg flavored almonds
lettuce
red onion or scallions
½ cup oil
½ cup sugar
3 tsp soy sauce
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
¼ tsp salt
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blend oil, sugar, soy, salt
toss just before serving.
I don't usually add the onions. It's the dressing that I would like to tweak. The 1/2 cups of oil and sugar are danger zones (right?). But oh, YUM. It makes me hungry just thinking about it! hehehe
splenda or stevia for sugar?
as for the oil, try less, and maybe add some water shaking the whole thing a bit to break out the oil.
onions are gud fer yoo
I answered this in a chat thread but thought I'd throw it in here. As Aoife already said, you can substitute another sweetener for the sugar. Also, even though it may change the taste slightly you can use less than half the honey to sweeten the dressing for fewer calories. If you're not against artifical sweeteners though I'd use them.
For the oil, I've been making a 'oil substitute' for a while. Mix 1 cup of water with 1 Tbsp of cornstarch. Heat on the stove, stirring until thickened. Cool and use instead of oil in salad dressings. I tend to make 2 cups at once and put it in the fridge until needed. The only changes I usually make is cutting back on the hot/spicy ingredients. I usually half them and check them the next day.
I've used these dressings in regular salads (dress before serving) and pasta salads (with short sitting times). It would work fine for the salad you're talking about. The only salads it might not work in are ones that marinate for a while/days etc. When I use them in pasta salad I'll mix the vegetables and the dressing together and let them sit. They I'll add the pasta just before serving. I suspect that the 'fake oil' would just be too watery for something that sits.
Honestly one of the best ways to cut the calories is not dress the salad at all until it gets on the plate, then you can take what you need in terms of dresssing. You'd be amazed at how far 1 tbsp of dressing can go.
__________________ It all starts with the mind, but the thoughts, the intention aren't enough. Action needs to come next. Dream it, believe it, plan it, execute it, celebrate it. - Wendy
I've used that trick with other salads, too, Paula. I need to work on that with this one. I think I'm going to try Anne's oil replacement trick, too, because I could very easily sit down and eat a whole bag of lettuce with this dressing for a meal. yum.
Anne, I tried your substitute for this and it rocked! I was even able to use 1/2 to almost 2/3s less than I did before because it just seemed to go farther. THANKS!!
What KIND of oil? If you're using something like olive oil, walnut oil, another 'healthy' oil, then I wouldn't worry about it at all. I think the KIND of oil is the key. And the sweetner as others have mentioned. I'd use agave or sucanat.
Can you help me lighten this recipe?
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