Making your own salad dressing is not that hard and it is less expensive. I keep a jar in the refrigerator with oil and vinegar already mixed. I run it through a blender and it takes weeks to separate again. By that time I have used it all up. I use it as the base for dressing salads. On cucumbers, you only need a couple of tablespoons with a few shakes of garlic salt, salt and pepper to finish off the salad. Add some Italian herbs, crushed garlic, and finely minced onion then whisk for Italian dressing. Very easy to do.

Basic Vinegar-Oil for Salads

¾ cup vegetable oil

¼ cup red wine vinegar

The English pea salad I use 2 tablespoons of basic vinegar-oil blend as my base for the salad dressing. To make the dressing you start with a large cereal bowl and whisk. Now if you have a blender you can just put it all in there and blend. The first thing is you add the oil blend and mustard. I have watched chefs on cooking shows do this first because the mustard is an emulsifier. You whisk for a few seconds then add spices, and sugars. Then you whisk as fast as you can until it is creamy. That takes a minute and a good wrist. Then the last thing you blend in is the sour cream.

**For those of you that is only going to make one or two servings of the pea salad, you can save the dressing for other salads for the rest of the week in a jar refrigerated. It is really good on all types of green salads. Just thaw out the amount of peas you are going to use and slice up some of the rest of the ingredients. The recipe is for 6 servings.

English Pea Salad with Cashews

Salad Dressing

2 tablespoons basic vinegar-oil blend

1 teaspoon prepared mustard

1 teaspoon Worcester sauce

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon lemon juice

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon sugar

½ cup sour cream

Whisk by hand or blend together in blender or processor. Chill in a jar with tight lid.

Salad

1 package (12 oz.) frozen green peas thawed

2 stocks of celery sliced thin

2 green onions sliced thin

4 slices cooked bacon crumbled

¾ cup cashews coarsely chopped

Fry bacon crisp and drain on paper towel. Crumble and set aside. Mix in large bowel peas, celery and green onion. Stir in salad dressing. Add bacon and cashews just before serving.

French Dressing

½ cup basic vinegar-blend

2 tablespoons ketchup

¼ cup sugar**

1/8 teaspoon salt

Dash of garlic powder

Blend or whisk together. Makes little over ¾ cup of dressing. Store in jar and refrigerate. ** Spenda can be used in place of sugar.

Keep in mind that you can always adjust for taste. If it needs more of something add a little more until it tastes right to you.

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