Salad or sandwich? Which do you grab when you are hungry?

Do you often find yourself deciding against the salad because not only do you have to wash and prep the salad ingredients, but you also have to make the dressing and it’s that last bit that then seems to make the whole process too burdensome? And a sandwich is so much easier, right? Just grab and go!

I have been in that situation countless times, but then found a way to move beyond this and it’s been the best discovery and one that to this day still makes me happy every time.

It’s such a simple and small thing, but it makes a hell of a difference. It actually gives me freedom! Yes, I said it. Salad Dressing gives me freedom! Now let me explain that one, otherwise you might thing I am completely mad… 🙂

So… Salad Dressing. The big difference in your kitchen!

A salad dressing in a little screw top bottle, ready to be poured over a bowl with lettuce or cucumber or grated carrots and so much more. A healthy salad dressing, home made, free from any strange ingredients, just the basic stuff, just those few ingredients and voila’! Dinner or lunch or snack is served!

I absolutely love it. It has allowed me the freedom to make the healthier choice because it’s an easy choice, quick to prepare. That’s what I need, simple food, natural, quick to make, no fuss. Especially at lunch time I often ignore any signs that my body needs to be fed and continue to work until I get really strong hunger pangs and then I need food NOW!

Do you recognize this maybe?

In that situation I don’t have any patience to spend time with lengthy preparations and I would grab the first thing coming into sight, so it’s really important that the first thing coming into sight is something nutritious or reminding me of a nutritious option. Hence the bottle with salad dressing sitting on my counter, in full sight, always ready.

I thought I share this with you, as sometimes it’s those simple things that can turn our situation around. And it took me a long while before I realized that I could make this dressing in advance…

Best of course are those days when I have some prepped lettuce in my fridge as well, so I don’t even have to waste time to wash my produce. Those days are still rare occasions, since menu planning in advance is not my strong side. But every time I am so impressed by the added ease to meal preparation that I swear to do this more in the future from then onwards… hmm, I think I will get there one day. Sometimes a good thing needs time, right?

So, let’s finally get to that dressing then, shall we? Better get it out of the way how easy it is and actually not a big thing!

It’s a very simple dressing, I have been making for years and I have never tired from it!

And I never actually measured this, just went by approximate amounts and by feeling and taste testing. I tried to make one and measure it for you, but please taste test as well, since we all have different preferences. And you can always spice it up when you make the salad by adding some pepper or fresh basil leaves or garlic or spring onions. This way you have a neutral base and can give it your own twist every time.

You can make a bigger batch in the blender, this is what I do most of the times now. I actually use empty and washed olive oil bottles as they help with pouring the dressing.
But you can also just put all ingredients in a glass bottle with a wide screw top neck and then shake vigorously until all the ingredients have amalgamated.
Make sure to shake the bottle every time before you use the dressing to help amalgamate the ingredients again and make the dressing silky smooth again.

So here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
• ½ cup organic unfiltered apple cider vinegar (use more if you like your dressing more tart)
• 1-2 TBS mediumstrong mustard, less if very strong
• 2-3 TBS organic Nama Shoyu (or Tamari, Coconut Aminos or other type of organic Soy Sauce)
• 2 tsp (or to taste) herbal salt or himalayan salt / see salt
• 2 TBS honey or maple syrup or a few drops of stevia if you want to keep the glycemic index down

Easy, right?

Play around with the proportions and adjust to your liking. Once you have found your perfect basic salad dressing you are all set for quick healthy meals and the freedom of going for the healthy choice!

If you want to see the ingredients I usually use, you can watch me running through them in this video.

I hope you feel inspired to give this a go and if you do, let me know how you liked it or how you adapted it to your taste! I am always eager to see what you come up with!

Stay well!
Martina

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