Italian Dressing

Author’s Note: One of the things I've been really trying to do is to stop eating "processed foods". What does that mean exactly? To me, it means things that someone has manufactured into a box or bottle that includes a list of ingredients. The reason why is that so many of the ingredients added are not good for us but used in the manufacturing process usually for preserving the food making it shelf stable for a year or two. One of the hardest things for me is salad dressings. It feels so easy to just buy a bottle and open it. I just made a batch of homemade Italian dressing. I looked at my bottle of Wishbone Italian Dressing and the ingredients are: Distilled Vinegar, Water, Soybean oil (inflammatory-leads to obesity and diabetes), sugar (do I even need to say how bad sugar is?), salt, garlic. Contains 2% or less of onion, red bell peppers, spice, lemon juice concentrate, annatto extract (color). In the same time it took me to read those label ingredients.

3/4 cup avocado oil (original recipe called for olive oil but much better taste with avocado oil)

1/4 cup red or white wine vinegar

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp lemon juice

½ tsp. Dijon mustard (not in original recipe)

1 tsp. grated Parmesan cheese (not in original recipe)

Mix all of the above into a cruet and refrigerate. Good for up to 4 days.