Salad Dressings can make or break a meal. The challenge is finding a variety of recipes, suitable for different meals that are tasty but do not have a ton of calories in them. I hate store bought dressings. They always have a strange "preservative" taste to them, no matter the brand. And they end up with too much sodium and too little taste. Much to my surprise, I have found there are many different healthy recipes for dressings. Most of them keep in your refrigerator for a couple of weeks so you can make it once but use it multiple times for different meals...even snacks, depending on the recipe.
Last week we had some leftover cucumbers I had bought at the Farmer's Market. I thought it would be fun to find a recipe for a cucumber dressing to help use up this fresh produce. In my Cooking Light Five Star Recipes cookbook I found a Creamy Cucumber Dressing. It uses low fat yogurt. I used the low fat Greek Yogurt I had on hand. It made the dressing thick and creamy. It was not hard to make and was so fresh and summery tasting.
Here is the recipe:
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
⅓ cup peeled, seeded, and finely chopped cucumber
¼ cup low-fat mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
2 tablespoons lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon dill
⅛ teaspoon pepper
Combine all ingredients; still well. Cover and chill. Serve over salad greens. Yield: 1 ¾ cups (serving size: 1 tablespoon). Calories 12.
We have used it for a dressing to complement a pasta dinner and we have also used it for a dip with our raw vegetables at snack time. It has kept well in our refrigerator for a week. Everyone has liked it. For 12 calories a tablespoon, you can't beat it! A definite repeat.
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