May is National Salad Month, a time to celebrate warmer weather with fresh produce. The rule of thumb is the more colorful your salad is, the healthier it will be.

But there’s also a common misconception that as long as you’re eating a salad, you’re making a healthy choice. For the most part, that can be true until it comes time to add the dressing. 

All nutritional value gets thrown out the window the second a thick, creamy ranch dressing douses your salad.  Using the wrong kind of dressing can add as many calories as a cheeseburger to your healthy intentions. 

However, you don’t have to sacrifice taste along with calories. You can make your own Ranch, Thousand Island or Caesar dressing right at home.  It’s easy, delicious, nutritious and inexpensive!

Creamy Ranch Dressing

1 ¼ cups soymilk
12 oz silken tofu, drained
1 oz package ranch salad dressing

Mix the ingredients together, and you have a low-fat, protein-filled ranch dressing.  In a ¼ cup there are only 48 calories, as opposed to regular Ranch dressing which contains 140 calories in 2 tablespoons, or 280 calories for ¼ cup.

Thousand Island Dressing

12 oz silken tofu, drained
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons of white vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
6 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons chopped sweet pickles
¼ cup chopped green pepper
2 tablespoons chopped green onion.

After combining the tofu, water, vinegar, lemon juice and chili sauce in a blender, stir in the pickles, green peppers and onions.  For ¼ cup, there are 50 calories, 3 grams of soy protein and 7 grams of carbohydrates as opposed to regular Thousand Island that has 59 calories per tablespoon or 236 calories in a ¼ cup.

Caesar Dressing

3 garlic cloves, preferably large
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 ¼ cups cubed firm silken tofu
¼ cup lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients. There are 17 calories per serving,  1.4 grams protein, 1.6 total carbohydrates and .4 grams of fiber.

Recipes are courtesy of The Soyfoods Council.      

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