For those of you who follow this blog regularly, you know it is not exactly written with Weight Watcher's in mind...lol. You also know I am not a big fan of lowfat, light, or fat free products to cook with most of the time even though I do offer those as a substitute in the recipes if at all possible. To me, the lowfat or fat free versions of some foods are just full of water, sugar and other yucky things that might be just as bad for people as the fat. However, I have done my fair share of dieting, especially in the last ten years since my metabolism seems to have gone on a permanent vacation and I don't think it plans on returning and I do know that cutting fat grams and calories does result in some weight loss. Also, for those people watching their cholesterol, a lowfat diet is recommended.
Therefore, if I can find a recipe that is lowfat that still tastes good and isn't full of fillers, I will use it. Salad dressings of the lowfat variety are one of those things that can be very iffy. I love salads and it really irritates me if I put a dressing on a beautiful salad and it tastes awful and ruins it. I would usually rather just eat the salad plain than go to the lowfat varieties, so you can't imagine how excited I was when I made these two dressings, ranch and honey mustard, and they really are good! The ranch dressing I saw on Pinterest and I only changed a couple of things about it which for me, is a record. The honey mustard came about because of the ranch. I had to play around with the honey mustard to get it to taste right without any of the whang (is that a word?) that most lowfat or light dressings have and actually the honey mustard ended up being my favorite of the two.
Lowfat Ranch Dressing
1 cup nonfat plain Greek Yogurt (it's important to use the Greek yogurt)
1 pkg Ranch Dressing mix (do not use the dip mix)
1/2 cup 1% milk ( I used 2% because that is what we drink and had on hand)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp. soy sauce ( use a good soy sauce like Kikkoman)
Mix all of the ingredients well and place in the refrigerator to chill. This makes a thick dressing that is thick enough for a veggie dip. If you want it a little thinner for salads, just add a little more milk to it. According to all of those people who pinned this on Pinterest the entire jar contains 255 calories, 1.75 grams of fat, 42 carbs and 34 protein if made with the 1% milk. The entire recipe has about 20 servings so you can see that is it almost fat free. I did add the soy sauce and garlic powder, but that should not have changed the fat content. Adding those two ingredients did get rid of any whangy taste it had and it did have a slight whang. Once I added the soy sauce and garlic powder, it didn't and it didn't change the looks of it. I have been eating this and I actually love it!
Lowfat Honey Mustard Dressing
1/2 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1 cup honey
1 Tbs. Dijon or spicy brown mustard
1 Tbs. yellow mustard
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. soy sauce
Mix all of the ingredients and chill for at least an hour. This is not as thick as the ranch dressing, but it's the perfect consistency for salads. This one took some trial and error and playing around with, but I must admit that I was shocked at how good this really is. I will be making and using this from now on when I need a honey mustard dressing. It was not as good until I added the garlic powder and soy, once again it got rid of the slight tang that lowfat dressings can have.
I don't know the calories and fat grams for this one, but it wouldn't be hard to figure out if you need to. I am hesitant to give calorie and nutrition information or even servings calculations, because I am not a dietitian or a nutritionist and don't want to misinform anyone.
If you are looking for a way to cut a few calories this summer, make these dressings and a nice big green salad and enjoy guilt free!
Lowfat Honey Mustard and Lowfat Ranch Dressings!
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