Recipe Post: FitGirl's Sugar-Free Citrus Vinegrette Salad Dressing

Another great lunch!
I made another spinach shrimp & avocado salad for lunch today. However, I omitted a few things from the original recipe, added some other things, and designed a new salad dressing.  It was quite tasty, and I didn't use as much (healthy) fat today as compared to yesterday!!  I was full for several hours after eating it.  Today I used a spinach and romaine combination, added a few segments of fresh grapefruit & orange, and added some fresh raw corn off the cobb to the salad veggies.  I didn't use any olive oil or nuts in today's version of the meal.

I wanted to share the dressing recipe. I adapted it from a recipe that I saw Rachel Ray make on the Food Network. My version is sugar-free, citrus-based, and I think it's full of flavor. It also makes a nice marinade for chicken. Sometimes I add garlic to this recipe, but today I didn't.

FitGirl's Citrus Vinegrette Salad Dressing

Ingredients

This should make about 1.5 servings, depending upon how much juice you use. It was more than enough for my entire salad today.

1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
1.5 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon lime juice
fresh orange juice (I just used the juice from the piece of orange that I cut to zest)
1/2 teaspoon sugar-free apricot preserves
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/4-1/2 teaspoon grated shallot/onion...start with 1/4 & add to taste
black pepper (about 1/4 teaspoon)
pinch of dried tarragon
orange zest (I used the zest of about 1/4 of a small orange. You can use more to taste.)
lemon zest (I used the zest of about 1/4 of a small lemon. You can use more to taste.)
sea salt to taste (I used only a dash of good quality sea salt)
1 Tablespoon flaxseed oil (or olive oil)

Putting it Together:
Put all ingredients, except for the flaxseed oil, into a small bowl and whisk together. After a quick taste, add any desired enhancements to taste (i.e. more zest, pepper, salt, grated shallot).  Once combined, continue whisking and slowly add in the flaxseed oil to emulsify.

I just love this recipe. I will warn you that the grated onion or shallot can be strong, depending on how strong the onion or shallot is. I always start off with about half of the recommended amount and add in more after everything is combined.  If you want to sweeten it, you can add some all-natural honey, agave nectar, or maybe even some stevia. I like it as-is, so I didn't add any sweetener.

Thanks for letting me share my creation.  I'm learning that healthy, homemade salad dressings can be very easy to make and add alot of guilt-free flavor to your meal. 

Enjoy!