Simple Kitchen

Christy’s Simple Tips–How to Clean a Coffee Pot

You know the smell. Someone forgot to turn off the coffee maker and now you’ve got burned-on coffee stuck to the coffee pot until the end of time if not longer. Relax. I’ve got the inside trade secret on how to get that ooey gooey stinky stuff out.

How to Clean a Coffee Pot

Allow the coffee pot to cool completely. This is important, so you skimmers and shortcutters better not skip this step. You’ve been warned.
Toss in two or three spoonfuls of salt, a handful or two of ice, and a couple splashes of lemon juice.
Swish it around—you know, hold the coffee pot and swish; don’t bother getting a spoon and stirring or anything as complex as that. That only results in more dishes needing washing.
Watch in amazement and awe as the goo loosens.
When finished, rinse with cool water.
Repeat if necessary, depending on how long your coffee pot was neglected.

No lemon juice, no problem. Any acidic kitchen liquid will do just fine, like plain ol’ cheap ol’ white vinegar. In the restaurant biz we used lemons because we always had them on hand and already sliced at the end of a shift, so it was easy to grab, squeeze, and toss the whole shebang into the pot…almost every night…because we were so-not-good at remembering the coffee.

I knew my restaurant experience would come in handy. Now if I could only find a use for my college degree.

Contact me to submit your favorite simple tips for publication and a link to your blog or website from Christy’s Simple Tips.

Simple Tips for Baking with Stevia and Xylitol {Guest Post}

Today we have a guest writer, cookbook author Sarah from Whole Intentions. Be on your best behavior please. 🙂

You all know my stance on the real food movement, but just because I refuse to scare the pants off of you with all the doom and gloom about food (I don’t want a bunch o’ readers in their skivvies) doesn’t mean I’m not generally careful about how I feed my family. On the flip side, just because I want effortless food perfection going into the bodies I love, doesn’t mean I get it. I also don’t get Alton Brown and Paula Deen fixing dinner in the travel trailer. It’s a life of compromise.

One area of family life that has seen some compromise is sweeteners. My main squeeze likes a bit o’ sweet, but sugar gives me…trouble. Our dads have diabetes, so sugar has the potential to give my kids quite a bit of trouble, too. Therefore we explored the world of stevia, a natural sweetener extracted from the stevia plant. (Yeah, I know cyanide is natural, too. Just for today, let’s not go there. We’ll scare away our guest.)

When Sarah and Paula wrote me about guest posting about natural sweeteners as part of their new e-cookbook launch and massive giveaway, my tummy growled. (Yeah, I think with my stomach.) Sugarless sweets made with a natural sweetener are right up my alley…as long as they don’t have that nasty aftertaste that the fake sweeteners have. Blech and gag. No thanks! Sarah touches on that in her tips below.

Speaking of tips, let’s get to it! Readers, meet Sarah from Whole Intentions. Sarah, my amazing readers. (Oo, oo, readers, check out tip number six. Sweet!)

Disclosure: All the links to the Whole Intentions site are my affiliate links.

Guest Post from Sarah of Whole Intentions

During September, I had the pleasure of creating 40 dessert recipes using purely stevia and xylitol as the sweeteners. My friend Paula, who blogs at Whole Intentions, and I got this whacky idea that we’d write a cookbook. We’ll both tell you that the Lord’s hand was over the entire process because we could never have imagined that at month’s end we’d have over 70 recipes to share!

Both Paula and I have suffered with candida. Our personal struggles combined with our love for baking lead us to write The Sweeter Side of Candida. In my introduction, I wrote that the process of writing these recipes was, “almost like medicine to my soul as I created them with the anticipation that they might help some of you continue in your journey to health.” But this cookbook is definitely not just for those who suffer from candida. It’s for anyone trying to avoid refined sugar, to lose weight, or to just be healthy!

Our month-long course of baking boot camp (or paradise, for me) taught us quite a few things about our dear friends stevia and xylitol. As people tested our recipes, they couldn’t believe there was no “sweetener” aftertaste that so often comes with using sugar alternatives. Paula and I both believe that using the following “tricks” create the beautiful marriage of flavors that will delight you.

Stevia and Xylitol Baking Tips

Here are our favorite MAKE-NOTE-OF-THESE tips:

1.) There are a LOT of brands of stevia, as we’re sure you’re well aware. Some brands are sweeter than others, some have an aftertaste, some are cheap, some are spendy, and then there’s all those off-shoot brands like Truvia (more on that here).

This makes it hard to follow any cookbook that uses stevia unless you’re all using the same brand. Even Paula and I don’t use the same brand! 🙂

Every time we mention stevia in our cookbook, we say to use it ‘to taste’. You’ll probably want to ring our necks for being so vague, but really, there’s no other way around it.

The best words of advice we can give is to start out sprinkling it. Taste test, and sprinkle a little more. Stevia is a LOT sweeter than sugar (like 200-300 times sweeter), so you definitely don’t want to use equal proportions, however there is such a thing as too much stevia which can make your baked goods have a bitter aftertaste. So be sure to play, taste – play, taste. . .

2.) Stevia and salt are best friends. Some things simply taste better when they’re together. So is true with stevia and salt. You’ll find that nearly every recipe in The Sweeter Side of Candida calls for ‘a pinch of celtic sea salt’ and ‘stevia to taste’.

Stevia and salt have made friendship bracelets, buried a time capsule, and promised to be best friends until the day they die. Do. Not. Separate. 😉

3. Sometimes xylitol needs to be powdered first. Xylitol doesn’t dissolve as easily as refined white sugar does, so in some recipes it’s best to grind it first in a coffee grinder or high-powered blender so it’s more like powdered sugar. In some of our recipes we measured already powdered xylitol, and in others we measure the granules and then powdered them.

4. Stevia and xylitol compliment each other. Like a good marriage we’ve found that when a recipe seems like something is missing, it comes together beautifully when both sweeteners are used. Some recipes can stand alone with just one or the other, but others needed them both for that finishing touch (cue violin music).

There’s no right or wrong way to use these two sweeteners, but we found that Paula likes to add stevia first and then top it off with xylitol whereas I like to start off with xylitol. Each method works well.

If you want to play around with your own recipes, here is a good Sugar Conversion Chart.

5. Use a bit more sweetener in recipes you’re baking or freezing. When you’re using stevia or xylitol in a recipe that you’ll be baking or freezing, get it to the point of perfection, and then add just a tad more. When it’s almost too sweet – it’s perfect. Baking and freezing seem to subdue the sweeteners.

6. Get a spoon, dip your finger, or swipe the beaters. You have our complete and total permission (like you need it!) to taste your batters, dough, and frostings to tweak the sweetness factor to your liking. Just be sure there’s enough to bake with. 😉 We both taste all of our batters (a lot!) to make sure that they’re just right, so don’t be shy, taste away!

The Sweeter Side of Candida

Need recipes that will help you stay healthy, lose weight, and fight candida? We can help! This cookbook is *not* only for those who suffer from candida. It’s for anyone who wants to lose weight and/or stay healthy too!

Thank you, ladies, for sharing with us today!

Do you use stevia or xylitol in your baking?

Very Simple Rhubarb Pie Recipe

This delicious rhubarb pie recipe is not the healthiest item on the menu, but it sure is one of the tastiest, and hey, it’s a vegetable! It’s simple, it’s pie…what’s not to love?

It’s rhubarb season! If you’ve got this “weedible” (edible weed) growing like crazy in your yard, I’ve got a deeelicious recipe for you.

This rhubarb pie recipe uses white sugar and white flour, two things that rarely make an appearance in my kitchen. But hey, it’s got rhubarb in it, and rhubarb is a vegetable, so…there ya go.

Before we proceed, you are aware, are you not, that the leaves of rhubarb are poisonous. Just use the stalks. Pretend you knew that, if you didn’t.

The original recipe is from All Recipes. Ours is only ever-so-slightly different.

Simple Rhubarb Pie Recipe

Ingredients

4 (hefty) cups fresh rhubarb, cut into 1/4-1 inch pieces
1 1/3 cups sugar (scant)
6 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
1 double pie crust

Directions

Position the bottom crust in the pie pan
Combine sugar and flour in a small bowl. (They get along well, so this is simple.)
Sprinkle a layer of flour/sugar in the bottom crust.
Pile the rhubarb in the crust.
Sprinkle the rest of the flour/sugar over the top.
Cut the butter into little pieces and place them on the rhubarb.
Add the top crust. Crimp.
Bake at 450 for 15 minutes on the bottom rack.
Lower the temperature to 350 and bake another 35-45 minutes, depending on your oven.

Tips

Cut your rhubarb the size you prefer. I like mine “mushy” and small, but others prefer rhubarb slightly firmer and a little bigger. Your call!

Serve warm or cold with ice cream or without. Call it a veggie and serve in place of dinner or breakfast.

A regular pie pan is sufficient; do not use a deep-dish.

If the crust starts browning too quickly, wrap aluminum foil around the edges.

Place a cookie sheet directly under the pie pan in the oven to catch any drips. If you forget to do this, be sure to offer the firemen a nice warm slice of fresh rhubarb pie.

If you’re on a diet (ugh) or a “plan,” this probably doesn’t fit perfectly…or at all…so just pin it for ~~after you’ve fallen off the wagon~~ your free days. Hey, I’m on a plan, but I’m a realist, so I’ve got your back. Wink.

Reviews

A picky husband: My mouth really likes it, but my eyes can’t get past the fact that it looks like celery pie. (Our rhubarb was mostly green, not red.)

A teen: This pie is a success!

A four-year-old: I ate all the ice cream.

The Simple Homemaker: I can’t eat dairy or sugar, but snuck a sliver of this pie anyway, and oh my! Fantabulous!

Here’s the boring printable version:

Simple Rhubarb Pie Recipe

Recipe Type: Dessert

Author: The Simple Homemaker

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 45 mins

Total time: 1 hour 15 mins

Serves: Me

A simple pie that sweetens the tang of rhubarb for a delicious dessert.

Ingredients

4 (hefty) cups fresh rhubarb, cut into 1/4-1 inch pieces
1 1/3 cups sugar (scant)
6 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
1 double pie crust

Instructions

Position the bottom crust in the pie pan
Combine sugar and flour in a small bowl.
Sprinkle a layer of flour/sugar in the bottom crust.
Pile the rhubarb in the crust.
Sprinkle the rest of the flour/sugar over the top.
Cut the butter into little pieces and place them on the rhubarb.
Add the top crust. Crimp.
Bake at 450 for 15 minutes on the bottom rack with a cookie sheet under the pie pan to catch drips.
Lower the temperature to 350 and bake another 35-45 minutes, depending on your oven. Cover the edges with aluminum foil if it gets dark too quickly.
Serve warm or cold.

A great big thank you goes out to Lynn from Jackson, Wisconsin, for supplying us with rhubarb (and a rhubarb coffee cake)!

Let me know if you try this simple rhubarb pie recipe, and feel free to share your favorite rhubarb recipes here!

Simple Tools for a Simple Home – The Garlic Press

My husband gave me this website as a Christmas gift nearly two and a half years ago. He has been nagging encouraging me ever since to share with all of you the simple tools I use to help me efficiently manage my homeschooled family of nine and run my simple home, in particular my simple kitchen.

It took an invitation from Erin of The Humbled Homemaker to get me started on my husband’s two-year-old request. (Sorry, Babe.) With Erin’s little kick in the pants and an eye-roll from my hubby (I didn’t see it, but I totally felt it), I’m finally following his advice. Each month I will introduce you to one of the tools I use to keep it simple, improve efficiency, keep the family fed primarily from scratch (no boxes in The Simple Kitchen), and still preserve the almost non-existent counter space we have in our dinky cozy travel trailer.

Are these tools necessities? Well, essentially all I need in life is food, water, and my Savior (although you would probably all prefer I keep a layer or two of clothing between the skin God gave me and the outside world), so no. But these are tools I rely on heavily to get the job done right. They made the cut during The Great Purge when we packed up our house for good and took the Christian music mission on the road full time. (But that’s a story for another blog.)

At The Humbled Homemaker I introduce you to one of those quasi-essential tools, my beloved garlic press.

My garlic press has made cameo appearances here at The Simple Homemaker, such as in my amazing (but humble) garlic butter recipe and my homemade Italian salad dressing recipe. I use it for eggs, soups, crockpot dishes, wet rubs…you name it! When I’m lazy I press instead of slice garlic for recipes like chicken adobo. We buy masses of fresh garlic and use it in as many dishes as possible during cold and flu season, ‘cuz who wants a trailer full of pukers with no access to a washing machine. Not me, I tell ya! Not me. Shudder.

Learn all about my garlic press and read questions from real readers (and real answers from real me) to decide whether or not a real garlic press would benefit the real you. It’s all part of The Humbled Homemaker’s terrific weekly series featuring an array of guest writers chatting up their favorite kitchen tools.

Don’t miss an episode! Sign up for The Humbled Homemaker’s email updates for her weekly tool of the trade, and sign up for my updates to learn which lucky tools travel the country with us. Then take a nap, cuz that’s typing your name and email address, like, twice. Whew!

Find out if you would benefit from a garlic press. Click here. Come on, everybody’s doing it.

How to Make (amazing) Garlic Butter

This garlic butter is amazing. It’s amazing! It’s so amazing that when I make it and sit down to dinner with my family, I can’t stop talking about it. I can’t stop saying in my amazed voice, “This is amazing!”

And they can’t stop saying in their sarcastic voices, “Wow, you’re humble.”

And that’s why, at The Simple Home, we call this “Mommy’s Humble Garlic Butter.” You, however, may simply call it Amazing Garlic Butter.

The original version can be found at AllRecipes.com. The recipes are both very tweakable, so do what you like to make it work for your family, cuz that’s what cooking for the family is all about, isn’t it?

How to Make Garlic Butter

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, softened
5-ish shakes paprika
2-6 cloves minced fresh garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Optional ingredients:

2 teaspoons garlic powder (intensify the garlic flavor with garlic powder, or replace the fresh garlic entirely)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (we like it with or without)

Directions:

1. Make sure your butter is nice and soft.

2. Add 4-6 shakes of paprika, or more for a deeper orange color. (If you’re four, you may wish to go with four, because four is fun.)

3. Add as much fresh minced garlic as you like, 1-2 cloves for a light garlic flavor, 6 for a stronger flavor. We used 6 in this batch. (See notes for more info on garlic.)

4. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt. I like salt, and because I eat pretty much everything from scratch, it isn’t hiding in many of my foods. That’s why I don’t have an issue with a heaping half teaspoon. Adjust to your needs and tastes, but remember that salted butter varies in its salt content, so start low and add more if needed.

5. Add a teaspoon of the Italian seasoning of your choice. We usually use homemade, but for this batch we used these gorgeous Penzey’s Italian herbs gifted to us from a friend we met on our travels.

6. Mix with a spoon (or I suppose you could use some form of technology if you are desperate to wash something).

7. Taste. Adjust to your desired level of amazingness.

8. Serve. (See ideas below.)

Store your humbly amazing garlic butter in the refrigerator and use within a couple of days if you are using fresh garlic. If you are using garlic powder, store where you normally keep your butter.

Serving Ideas:

Spread it on warm fresh bread or biscuits and serve immediately.
Spread it on bread, wrap the bread in foil, and return it to the oven. Oh my! (Yeah, I know foil will kill you, but who really cares. I mean, this is amazing! I just drooled on my keyboard. Not joking.)
Saute mushrooms and onions in garlic butter for an easy side.
Use it to scramble eggs, fry eggs, or flavor cooked eggs. (It’s great for these flower or shamrock eggs.)
Spread it on a toasted hamburger bun for a garlicky butter burger.
Add it to a grilled steak. I hear angels!
Melt it and add it to any vegetables. Do it. I triple dog dare ya.
Spruce up a boring side dish of plain noodles, rice, quinoa, or other grains.
Adorn baked potatoes or use it to flavor mashed taters.
Melt it and pour it over popcorn. Oh yeah!
Stick it in a bowl, set it on the supper table, and watch what happens.
It’s so versatile, you could even wear it. Okay, maybe not.

Notes:

Adjust the garlic to your liking. We like garlic…I mean I personally seriously love garlic. Don’t stand right next to me. Garlic breath. Whew.

Test it with garlic powder instead of fresh garlic sometime to see how you prefer it. I like to tone down or replace the fresh garlic if I’m serving it raw, but if I’m using it to cook or on bread that’s going in the oven, I hit it hard with fresh garlic. Bam!

I almost always double this recipe, because it’s amazing. I may have mentioned that.

Here’s the boring printable version:

How to Make (amazing) Garlic Butter

Recipe Type: condiment

Author: Christy, The Simple Homemaker

Prep time: 5 mins

Total time: 5 mins

This delicious, quick, and simple garlic butter is versatile and amazing in any of its many uses.

Ingredients

1 stick butter, softened
5-ish shakes paprika
2-6 cloves minced fresh garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons garlic powder (optional: intensify the garlic flavor with garlic powder, or replace the fresh garlic entirely)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (optional)

Instructions

Measure.
Combine by hand.
Taste and adjust the garlic as desired, using either fresh or powdered garlic.
Serve as a spread for bread and biscuits, as a flavor enhancer for sides, or on popcorn. Put on meat or use to cook eggs and veggies.
Store in the refrigerator and use within a couple of days if you are using fresh garlic. If you are using garlic powder, store where you normally keep your butter.

Seriously, I think this is amazing…but I love butter, and I love garlic, so…there ya go.

That’s how to make garlic butter. Make it, eat it, let me know what you think!

Special thanks to my daughter Hannah of Horse Crazy Bookworm for many of the photographs, and to my helpers, butter softness tester, and tasters. You are all that and more!

All-Purpose Seasoning Recipe for Chicken, Fish, Rice, Veggies, and Just About Anything Else

Sometimes I’m all about speed and efficiency in the kitchen. That’s why I like to mix up my own spice blends ahead of time. On a busy night, there’s nothing better than a handy spice mix that you can snag for just about anything. (You all know that when I say “there’s nothing better,” I’m not counting cookies and pie and salvation and family, right? Just so we’re on the same page.)

That’s why I love this all-purpose seasoning we’ve made for years and named Mama’s All-Purpose Seasoning for Chicken, Fish, Rice, Veggies, and Just About Anything Else, or Mama’s APSFCFRVAJAAE. Catchy, eh? Fine, let’s just call it APS. Happy? Good.

I use APS on my roasted chicken, baked fish, pan fried fish, pan-fried chicken, veggies, and plain rice or quinoa. I’ve used it with flour to make a breading. Sometimes I sprinkle it on baked taters or home fries. APS is versatile enough to be used with just about anything. The only thing I haven’t used it for yet is dessert, although it might be good on popcorn. Hmmmm.

The original recipe comes from AllRecipes.com. My version is simplified, because that’s what I do...just in case you haven’t noticed by now.

As with all recipes, adjust the seasonings to your tastes and totally make it your own.

All-Purpose Seasoning for Chicken, Fish, Rice, Veggies, and Just About Everything Else

Ingredients

4 teaspoons salt (start at 2 and adjust up (or down) according to your tastes)
1 teaspoon onion powder
a scant teaspoon pepper (adjust according to your peppery mood; sometimes I use 1/2)
1 heaping huge teaspoon garlic powder (or 2)
2 teaspoons paprika

Optional ingredients

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (adjust as desired)
1/2 – 1 teaspoon thyme (I like to use this for roast meats and sometimes for other cooked dishes, but I leave it out when I make a big batch to have on hand for general sprinkling)

Instructions

1 – Measure.

2 – Mix.

3 – Taste and adjust to your liking.

4 – Store APS in an empty spice container or in a mason jar in your pantry.

Cooking with APS

What to do with it:

Sprinkle APS wherever you want…within reason. (I don’t think I’d like it on ice cream.) I usually put it on potatoes and meats before cooking, and grains and veggies after cooking…but that’s just me. My hubby sprinkles it on anything as a table seasoning, especially rice.

How much to use:

About 2-3 teaspoons seasons a roasted chicken before cooking. If you add the additional ingredients (cayenne and thyme) or use extra pepper, it will be closer to two. Otherwise, just sprinkle lightly as with any salt.

This chicken was thinly sliced, tossed in a pan with olive oil, and sprinkled lightly with APS–that’s it! It was fantastic. All the best pieces were eaten before I remembered my camera, but these leftovers don’t look too bad! I call dibs!

Notes and hints:

We make this in bulk so it’s on hand to sprinkle on my roast chicken or anything else we feel needs a little more flavor. The simplest way to make it in bulk is to change the teaspoons to tablespoons, or just do a little math and multiply by, say, 20. It’s good for the ol’ noggin. Don’t mix it up in bulk until you’ve tried the recipe and tweaked it to your liking.

Sometimes we add thyme, but not usually when we make it in bulk, because I don’t want it in the big container for sprinkling on already cooked food. I really like the thyme for potato dishes and roast chicken, but I leave it out when I’m in a thyme-less mood.

We like salt. Adjust the salt to your personal preferences. When you’re making it, start with half the amount of salt and adjust up (or down if you’re really a low-salter). Some salts (like our Redmond’s Real Salt) taste more or less salty than others (like the Morton’s sea salt my chef used this time), so keep that in mind when adding salt. You can always add more.

The same goes for the pepper, garlic, and cayenne. Go with your mood, or find something that works for your family. We tend to enjoy a little extra heap to our garlic, but I generally save the cayenne for my cajun spice mix.

Once you get it adjusted to your liking, write the recipe down on a piece of paper and attach it to the container you store it in, so you can easily replenish as needed.

Here’s the boring printable version:

All-Purpose Seasoning Recipe for Chicken, Fish, Rice, Veggies, and Just About Anything Else

Author: Christy, The Simple Homemaker

Prep time: 5 mins

Total time: 5 mins

An all-purpose seasoning for just about anything in your kitchen.

Ingredients

4 teaspoons salt (start at 2 and adjust up (or down) according to your tastes)
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 scant teaspoon pepper (adjust according to your peppery mood; sometimes I use 1/2)
1 heaping huge teaspoon garlic powder (or 2)
2 teaspoons paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper – optional (adjust as desired)
1/2 – 1 teaspoon thyme – optional (I like to use this for roast meats and sometimes for other dishes, but I leave it out when I make a big batch to have on hand for general sprinkling)

Instructions

Measure, combine, and store in a spice container or mason jar in the pantry.
Sprinkle on your food as desired, either before or after cooking. I like to sprinkle it on meat and potatoes before cooking, and grains and veggies after.
Adjust the seasonings to your personal preferences. For example, start with half the salt and adjust up if you like food to be less salty.

So, I suppose, like my hubby, you’re wondering why this is better than Lawry’s (or any other brand of) season-all salt. Mine has a cooler acronym.

Let me know how you adjust APS to your family’s liking…and what you call your version! I’d love to hear.

Homemade Salad Dressing Recipe – Italian Dressing

I haven’t purchased salad dressing in years. Why not? We make it ourselves.

Homemade salad dressing is the way to go, people! You can adjust the flavors to your liking, avoid any allergens or additives, control the sweetness, save money, and procrastinate just a little bit longer on that trip to the store. Best of all, it’s simple and delicious!

We have a variety of homemade salad dressing recipes, including the classics, such as ranch, Caesar, and French, and a few more creative options. Today’s salad dressing recipe is our quick go-to Italian dressing that we throw together as needed or to keep on hand for a quick lunch salad or dinner side.

To create this recipe, we took an existing recipe from Pampered Chef and altered it considerably over the years to fit our tastes and preferences. This recipe allows for numerous variations, so don’t be afraid to experiment to find what suits your family best.

Homemade Salad Dressing – Italian Dressing Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
*1 tsp basil
*1/4 tsp oregano (missing in the photo…and this batch)
*3-6 cloves minced garlic (may substitute 1/2-1 teaspoon garlic powder)
*1/2-1 tsp salt (start with less and add more if desired)
1/2 tsp onion powder

*(You could replace all of these with 2-3 teaspoons of Italian seasoning, but because each Italian seasoning recipe varies, you can adjust the dressing more to your personal liking by using separate seasonings.)

Combine all the ingredients in a container and shake or stir to combine.

Notes and Tips:

We usually whip up and serve our Italian dressing in a Pampered Chef “Measure Mix and Pour” salad dressing container that I bought a decade ago. It’s so simple, a four-year-old can use it. See!

Amazon also has dressing mixers, such as this one, that look like they work in a similar manner. I also like the cruets that you fill, close, and shake, like this one.

Another option for shaking and serving is to toss all the ingredients in a wine vinegar bottle, shake it up, and serve it from the bottle. It’s the free option.

One of the perks to making your own salad dressing is eliminating unwanted ingredients, such as sugar. We don’t put sugar in our homemade dressing, but if you want to take the edge off the vinegar or sweeten the oil, add sugar or the sweetener of your choice in 1/4 teaspoon increments (less if using stevia) until it reaches your preferred sweetness. Taste as you go.

We like a 1:2 vinegar to oil ratio, but if you prefer less vinegar, experiment to find the ratio you like best. Sometimes I’m only in the mood for a 1:3 ratio, and use 1/3 cup vinegar. The same applies to the garlic…and all the other ingredients. Alter them to suit your tastes.

During cold and flu season, add extra garlic for a little immune blast! This batch had 6 cloves, but we normally use 4.

If the olive oil flavor is too strong for you, swap out half the extra virgin olive oil for another healthy oil, such as grapeseed oil (commonly available in most grocery stores) or avocado oil.

Shake before using, as the dressing will separate. Or find someone cute and little to shake or stir for you.

Store your dressing in the refrigerator and use it within a few days. I do not know the science behind this, but I generally don’t let it go past two weeks. If you have a small family or don’t eat salads often, cut the recipe in half or quarters if using fresh garlic.

Storing it in the frig will cause the oil to solidify, so plan ahead and set it out for thirty minutes, or run it under hot water for a couple minutes. Sometimes I cheat and leave it out, but you didn’t hear that from me.

Caution: fresh garlic stored in oil can result in botulism, so, regardless of what I do, store yours in the refrigerator and use within a few days if using fresh garlic. Still, vinegar is used as a preservative for garlic, so…there’s that. Use your common sense and don’t mix up enough to last an age unless you use garlic powder instead of fresh garlic.

Enjoy!

Here’s the printable version:

Italian Salad Dressing

Author: Christy, The Simple Homemaker

Prep time: 10 mins

Total time: 10 mins

Serves: 12

Ingredients

1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp basil
1/4 tsp oregano
3-6 cloves minced garlic (may substitute 1/2-1 teaspoon garlic powder)
1/2-1 tsp salt (start with less and add more if desired)
1/2 tsp onion powder

Instructions

Combine. Shake before serving.
Store it in the refrigerator.
If you need it sweeter, add the sweetener of your choice in 1/4 teaspoon increments, tasting between each.

What do you think? Simple, isn’t it? Do you make your own homemade salad dressing? If not, what’s stopping you?

Special thanks to my daughter Hannah of Horse-Crazy Bookworm for the photography, hair-styling, and food presentation, and thanks also to my little mixer and taster.

Linked to Nomday Monday.

Disclosure: some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you buy something from Amazon through my affiliate links, they give me some of their profits (ain’t that sweet!) and I buy olive oil and make more salad dressing. It’s all for a good cause.