Dressings

I used to be so intimidated about making my own salad dressing. My sister in law, Mary makes all of her own dressings - I would watch her make them (using an immersion blender - drooling here). She never uses measurements, just eyeballs everything and then blends them with her immersion blender (love).
I was never confident in my abilities - or kitchen accessories - to attempt homemade dressing, but I was constantly unsatisfied with what is available at the grocery store. I mainly ate salads at restaraunts because those dressings were the only ones up to my standards (wow - sounds like I am a dressing snob!)
In an experimental mood one day at the grocery store - I picked up a dry packet of Ranch and a dry packet of Italian. This has lead to a life altering change in my dinner habits!! I realized that making your own dressing is the way to go!
Hidden Valley Ranch dry packets are ALWAYS in stock at my house. I use them all the time. Homemade HVR (following the directions on the box) is about 100 x better than the HVR bottled stuff!! The dry packet is also used as a base in most of the dressings I make! It's easy, cheap, fresh and most dressings keep for about a month.
Trust me on this one - you don't need any special tools, just a wisk (or a fork will do!) Most dressings are made with stuff you have in your fridge right now - and you will serve salad as your 'go to' side every night for dinner!! The recipe posted below is the original 'intimidator' from my sis in law Mary...

Mary's Vinaigrette
Equal parts EVOO and *Vinegar
1 shallot finely chopped
Salt
Pepper
1 T mustard (I like Grey Poupon)
Blend - yum.
*You can use any of the following: lemon juice, white vinegar, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar - it just depends on what you have on hand - or what your preference is.

Get to it!