Vinaigrettes - Make it yourself

Venturing outside the box in my own kitchen, I have been a recent fanatic of being a doing it yourself gal. Going to the grocery store to buy endless bottles of vinaigrette's for salads and marinades has become ridiculous. When you take into consideration that the ingredients when purchased individually are inexpensive, it seems outrageous to fork over the funds. Finding ways to create interesting concoctions makes cooking an exciting discovery process. The flavors taste just as delicious, especially without all the extra junk they throw into it. You can find enormous amounts of recipes on the Internet or even better, become your own food scientist and discover ones on your own. One I have found and I have used is a recipe from allrecipes.com called "Smoked Paprika Vinaigrette."


Smoked Paprika Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard
1 tablespoon lime juice
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1 pinch white sugar (optional)
1/2 cup olive oil

Directions:

1. Blend the red wine vinegar, honey, mustard, lime juice, pepper, salt, paprika, garlic, onion, oregano, and sugar together in a blender until thoroughly mixed. Drizzle the olive oil into the mixture while blending on low. Chill at least 1 hour before serving.