Dressings Go Beyond Lettuce and Salads This Holiday Season

(NewsUSA) – If you’re like many Americans, you likely have multiple salad dressings sitting in your refrigerator right now. Whether straight off the shelf or made from a packet with added ingredients, salad dressings can be used for more than the typical green salad.
In fact, according to a recent survey by the Association for Dressings and Sauces, while 75 percent of people use salad dressings on a salad, 40 percent use it in dips and almost 30 percent use it as a marinade. (For more information about the survey, visit www.dressings-sauces.org). Clearly, asserts the association, salad dressings can be used for so much more than dressing up your leafy greens.
With the holidays fast approaching, the following tips might inspire you to use your dressing for something in addition to a traditional salad:
* In dips. Add ranch dressing to a mashed up avocado for a dipping sauce for crackers or crudites when you need to bring an appetizer to a party.
* As a marinade. Your favorite salad dressing also makes a great marinade for grilled chicken and steaks. Perfect for your Christmas Eve meal.
* For braised dishes. If you’re foregoing the turkey this year and considering something different, balsamic vinaigrette becomes more fragrant when heated. Try adding this dressing base to braised dishes for extra flavor.
* As an appetizer. A quick and easy appetizer can be had when you toss cut tomatoes in Italian salad dressing and then place them on toasted slices of bread to make a mock bruschetta.
* In your potato salad. Who says potato salads (and pasta salads) are just for summertime? In either case, you can give these salads a mini-makeover by adding your favorite salad dressing to mayonnaise for an extra kick of flavor.
* On a sandwich. According to the survey, the Midwest uses grocery shelf dressings as a sandwich condiment more often than any other region. We say, why not?
* In breads. Did you know you can use dry salad dressings to make breads? If you make a loaf of bread, cover it with olive oil and top that with dry Italian dressing — you’ll have a delicious Italian bread.
For more information and ideas, visit www.dressings-sauces.org.