Skinny Balsamic Vinaigrette

March 24, 2023 Amanda Plott

I actually made this Balsamic Vinaigrette back in 2013, so naturally after 10 years I thought it was due for an update. Balsamic Vinaigrette is one of my favorite salad dressings. It’s tangy and light and full of flavor.

I've lightened up this classic dressing by subbing water and chia seeds for some of the oil. It's an old but rather faithful trick that I picked up from my mom some years ago when she would make her own Italian salad dressing. And by 'make her own', I mean mix oil and water with a packet…

Skinny Creamy Jalapeño Ranch

September 22, 2022 Amanda Plott

This is another fun one that I absolutely had to update with some new pictures.

If you've ever been to Texas... you may have heard of a little place called Chuy's Mexican Restaurant. Mhn, the mere thought that place makes my mouth water. Seriously. They have some amazing Tex-mex. One of my most favorite things at Chuy's is their Creamy Jalapeño Ranch. It's something that they will serve along side chips, but... you have to ask for it! It's also used as a salad dressing option.

I've been trying for years now to find a recipe that's even remotely close to the infamous dip that Chuy's serves. There's a lot of options out there, but none of them can hold a candle to the original, especially when making any healthy substitutions…

Strawberry Champagne Vinaigrette

February 1, 2020 Amanda Plott

With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, I thought it would be fun (and delicious) to make a pink salad dressing. Not just any dressing though, something lightened up and perfect as we come into the end of the cold winter months. Maybe using spring inspired flavors will inspire the warmer weather!

So what makes the dressing pink? Strawberries of course! Strawberries are the base of this vinaigrette, and to be honest, they’re the secret to this dressing as well. The large amount of strawberries used here is what keeps this vinaigrette lightened up and low in calories…

Carrot Ginger Dressing

September 24, 2019 Amanda Plott

I’ve been playing around a lot lately with adding more and more vegetables to my meals and trying to do so in a sneaky and more clever way than just cooking them and plopping them on my plate. This Carrot Ginger Dressing is a fun asian twist on a vinaigrette.

I’m not quite sure how, but somehow the dressing ends up with an almost creamy texture. It’s light and bright and has just enough of a kick of ginger in there to keep you coming back for more. With it being so quick and easy to make that I’ll be using it this entire week for my lunches…

Soba Noodle Lunch Box

September 3, 2019 Amanda Plott

I’ve found lately that meal prepping my lunches has been my saving grace. If it wasn’t for preparing my lunches for a few days in advance, well… I’d be making some rather poor choices when it came time to eat. Getting back into the rhythm of ‘back-to-school’ has been a tougher transition this year than I had imagined.

This Soba Noodle Lunch Box is asian inspired with soba noodles, spiraled veggies, and of course a homemade Thai peanut dressing that is finger-licking good. Not only can you make this lunch box up ahead of time, you can also rest easy knowing the entire lunch is only 250 calories and vegetarian!…

Sweet Earth Review + Simple Italian Salad

August 23, 2019 Amanda Plott

This shop has been compensated by Blog Meets Brand and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

It’s FriYAY and what does that mean in our house? Pizza day! How does that old jingle go?

Pizza in the morning, pizza in the evening, pizza at supper time!

That’s basically the law of the land around here. Even though my little one has pizza for lunch on Friday at school, she comes home and still wants to have pizza for dinner. Who am I to say no? It’s been a long week full of the first few days of school and we’re all pretty much exhausted at this point.

Of course, when we do pizza night at home, I like to stick to the better-for-you options while also loading us all up on our fair share of veggies. That’s where this Simple Italian Salad and Sweet Earth come into play...