5 Simple Salad Dressings

Claire Wright

Featuring:

Effort:

Complexity:

Cost:

Serves: 4

Prep time: 1-2 minutes

Ingredients:

Basic vinaigrette:

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (swap for wholegrain if you prefer)

2 tablespoons vinegar (apple cider vinegar is best, but balsamic or red/white wine vinegar work well, too)

6-8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (add more to thin out a little if it's too thick for you)

salt & pepper, to taste

Honey-mustard vinaigrette:

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon runny honey

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar

1 minced or finely grated garlic clove (optional)

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

salt & pepper, to taste (the leaves of a small sprig of fresh thyme is nice in this one, too)

Green herb dressing:

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar or cider vinegar

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

small handful of finely chopped fresh herbs (basil, parsley, tarragon, mint all work really well)

salt & pepper, to taste (another great addition to this one is some finely chopped sundried tomatoes)

Asian dressing:

1 tablespoon soy sauce (or use 1 tablespoon miso paste for a thicker, more savoury dressing)

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar (or cider vinegar)

3cm piece fresh ginger, minced or finely grated

1/2 finely sliced de-seeded red chilli (optional)

juice of 1/2 lime

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

2 tablespoons neutral oil like almond, walnut, or rapeseed oil

Creamy vinaigrette:

1 tablespoon cider vinegar or red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons yogurt, creme fraiche or buttermilk

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs (the best are: chives, basil, parsley or mint)

salt & pepper, to taste

Salad leaves come to life when well dressed – it’s often the simplest step to converting a leafy green skeptic! Claire Wright from addsomeveg.com shares 5 simple salad dressings, all of which can be made in a jar with easy-to-find ingredients.

Method:

For all of the dressings, simply add the ingredients to a jar, seal tightly and shake, shake, shake until combined. Pour over your salad, et voila!

Engaging Kids

Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.

Kids in the kitchen

Kids can do this bit of prep themselves – get the ingredients ready and then help them measure using teaspoons and tablespoons (or carefully by eye), then seal the lid and let them shake, shake, shake!

Activities

While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.

Sensory

Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.

Serving

The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.

Claire Wright

Communications Manager: After leaving Exeter University with a degree in English Literature, Claire worked in various fields ranging from youth work and charities to publishing, before starting up a food-focused website when her first child was born. After being asked to project manage the publication of Veg Power's Crowdfunder book, Claire came on board as a fully-fledged team member in 2018 to take on the role of Communications Manager, looking after Veg Power's website and social media platforms.

addsomeveg.com/

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