Salads, salads, salads! You want to eat them, but you don’t want them to get boring, amiright? Here’s just a few of my favorite dressings to keep things interesting.

A forewarning – some of these are very vinegar forward. I prefer it this way, not just to keep the amount of oil low (or gone), but because I love tart flavors. Feel free to up the oil or add some water or something to tame it down a bit. But taste it in all its tart glory first before making judgement! You don’t need to use as much to get all the flavor, either.

Basic Balsamic
whisk together the following-

• 2 t Dijon mustard
• 4 T balsamic
• 1-2 T extra virgin olive oil
• pinch salt, pepper

Creamy Avocado Lime
This one lasts only a day or two in the fridge, so make only enough for what you can eat in that time. In a food processor, puree-

• 1 small/medium avocado
• juice of 2 limes
• 1-2 T water
• 2-3 T fresh cilantro
• 1 small clove garlic
• salt, pepper

Spicy Cranberry Orange
This one is from my mother-in-law. I don’t know where she got it, but it’s delicious!! I LOVE this one over roasted beets – the sweet/spicy of the dressing combined with the beety beets… Seriously good. Toss in a salad with delicate butter lettuce, cucumbers, sliced jalapenos, shredded carrots, maybe even some white beans to make it a meal…

Soak 3 T dried cranberries in 6 T boiling water at least 15 minutes until plumped up. Or, you can stick it in the microwave to speed up the plumping process. Put this in a food processor or blender with:

• 1/4 C maple syrup
• 1 medium orange, zest and juice
• 2 T balsamic vinegar
• 1 t Dijon mustard
• 1/2-1 t cayenne pepper (depending on how spicy you like it)