Review: Not Healthy!
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 05 29, 2013
Although many of these dressings seem appealing, I would not say they are healthy. As an example the first recipe calls for 1/4 c raspberries (16 cal, 0.2 fat), 2 tsp honey (44 cal, 0 fat), 1/2 c white vinegar (11 cal, 0 fat) and 1/4 c olive oil (477 cal, 54 grams fat) for a total of 548 calories, 87% of which is from fat. (All info from fatsecret.com).One caveat that somewhat redeems some of the recipes is that they tend toward low in sodium. There are some that add salt, but that can simply be omitted. Others use soy sauce (healthy? seriously?) which would affect the taste of the recipe so I won't modify any of those. There are some recipes that can be modified and seem like they would still be good - Mandarin-Pineapple dressing wouldn't have to be changed too much although I'd decrease the amount of honey. Cranberry-Almond dressing looks very good, but it calls for 1/3 cup vegetable oil. I think the dressing looks fine without having to add the oil.So I got some new ideas for combinations from the book, but I wouldn't use it to the letter and call it "healthy". I make all of my own salad dressings now, which is why I found the book intriguing. I use 0% fat plain Greek yogurt as a base for my creamy dressings (boosted with a salt-free dijon for flavor) and lemon juice and red wine vinegar as a base for my "vineaigrette-type" dressing. Add a bunch of different herbs or combine the two and there are all kinds of healthy alternatives without the fat or the sodium.