The Only Salad Dressing You'll Ever Need - No More Storebought!

How many of those packaged salad dressings and bottles do you go through a year? You probably get complacent and think you have to get these things. They are convenient. They are tasty...or at least you convince yourself of this. Do you know, you can have a better, cheaper and more satisfying dressing that can be changed many different ways to match your meal? My German oma taught me this goody a long time ago, and it is my most requested item from everyone who eats a meal out of my kitchen.

This vinaigrette is versatile and EASY. The basic ingredients are as follows:

• Olive or salad oil

• Vinegar (apple cider, red wine or balsamic)

• Sugar

• Salt

And those are just the basic ingredients. You always want to remember to do about three parts oil to one or two parts vinegar. For a medium bowl full of salad, I use about three TBS of oil and 2 TBS vinegar. I add a few shakes of sugar and a dash more salt. That would be about 1/2 tsp to 3/4 tsp of each. Go ahead and taste it. You'll see what it needs. I recommend using olive oil, although regular salad oil works well too.

I also like to add:

• Fresh parsley (you can use dried too)

• Onions (and the key trick here, is to cut it up very, very small; use about 4 TBS total)

• Grated Parmesan Cheese (I put this on after I put the dressing, then lettuce in the bowl and before tossing)

• Chives (optional; I use it if I have it)

To dress up the dressing and to make it different you can add:

• Heavy cream or creme fraiche (just a small amount)

• Experiment around with different herbs and minced garlic

• Substitute a fresh walnut or hazelnut oil for some of the olive oil

When I just make a cucumber salad, I add 1/4 cup heavy cream (or yogurt), 3 TBS olive oil, 1 TBS vinegar and some dill and freshly ground pepper. Try adding mint instead of dill for a bit of a different flavor.

What homemade condiments or dressings do you make?