Low Calorie Balsamic Salad Dressing
This is one of my favorite salad dressings, with half the sugar and half the oil I normally use. Feel free to add more sweetener and more oil to your liking. We are really trying to eat lighter food this summer. A salad can be a great low calorie meal until it is ruined by an onslaught of fatty salad dressing. This can also be used as a glaze, poured over cooked veggies, meat or pasta.
Low Calorie Balsamic Salad Dressing
- 1 Tablespoon dijon mustard (I use Grey Poupon)
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons maple syrup*
- 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
Place ingredients in a small 8 ounce mason jar. Shake vigorously, then serve. Makes seven ounces total. Store in the refrigerator up to two weeks, shake before serving. *Honey, agave or corn syrup can be used instead of maple syrup. I normally use double the maple syrup and double the olive oil when preparing this dressing, but for now we are looking for a low calorie salad dressing.
Here is the caloric breakdown for this batch of salad dressing: dijon mustard – 15 calories, balsamic vinegar – 120 calories, maple syrup – 100 calories, olive oil – 240 calories – total 475 calories for the entire batch. It makes 7 ounces, or roughly 14 Tablespoons dressing. So one Tablespoon of dressing has about 34 calories. It is pretty strong, so a little goes a long ways. If you are not used to the flavor of straight balsamic vinegar, add more oil and maple syrup to make a milder salad dressing.
… And in case you are curious, the garden salad in the background is made up of 3 cups mixed greens (60 calories), 1 cup raw spinach (7 calories), 2 ounces heirloom tomatoes (15 calories), 2 ounces red peppers (20 calories), 2 ounces cucumbers (10 calories). Total, 112 calories. That’s a good thing – let’s not ruin this lunch with a high calorie salad dressing. I normally add three egg whites (45 calories) or a little bit of low fat lunch meat to make it more filling. Happy dieting. Some really good desserts to come. Looking at this photo makes me crave butter and sugar!!
