Dress your salad!

I was in the grocery store the other day and took a look at the salad dressings. The ingredient lists on some of these scared me a little. There were as many as 25 ingredients; many I could not even pronounce!

Not knowing what these ingredients are frighten me:

xanthan gum

disodium inosinate

disodium guanylate

maltodextrin

mono and diglycerides

sorbic acid

phosphoric acid

calcium disodium EDTA

proplene glycol alginate

sodium benzoate

titanium dioxide

What is this stuff? I don't want to eat anything that sounds like a science experiment.

I want to share my family's favorite two dressings for salad. I promise you will be able to pronounce every ingredient and buy them at your local grocery store.

Italian Dressing:

1 cup of canola oil or olive oil (I like a mixture of both.)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp dries basil leaves

1 tsp dried oregano leaves

2 cloves of garlic, crushed ( or 1/4 tsp dried garlic)

1/4 cup of red wine vinegar ( or whatever vinegar you like)

Shake all ingredients in a tightly covered jar.

Raspberry Vinaigrette

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup raspberry vinegar (red wine vinegar works here in a pinch)

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp dried oregano leaves

Shake all ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid. My family loves this dressing in a salad of fresh greens and fruit.