Found: A Creamy Salad Dressing Without The Calories

By Audrey van Petegem, Contributing Editor

When I was a kid, my favorite salad dressing was Thousand Island. It was the only dressing that I would put on my salad.  As I grew older, my taste evolved and I also became more health conscious. Every once in a while, however, I crave the taste of my childhood favorite. During a recent visit to Whole Foods, I saw a whole line of yogurt based salad dressings by Bolthouse Farms in the refrigerated section. Including Thousand Island! After putting on my reading glasses to check the tiny print of the nutritional information, I was delightfully surprised to see that this dressing had only 70 calories for 2 tablespoons! That is less than half the calories from a regular bottle of Thousand Island dressing.

Plus, these yogurt dressings have no Trans Fat, no preservatives or MSG, no artificial colors, no flavors or added sugars, no high fructose corn syrup and they are gluten free. I swiftly added the Thousand Island bottle to my shopping cart, quite curious about the taste. I was certainly not disappointed. The yogurt base creates a tangy, rich, creamy (and low calorie) base. It tastes fresher than the regular store-bought bottle of dressing. I am thrilled as I am now able to relive a bit of my childhood again and not feel guilty at all.

I have since tried other flavors and love them all. My son is a huge fan of their Ranch dressing and, even as a picky eater, he loves it and uses it on everything from his salad to dipping his pizza. So, if you are looking for a creamy salad dressing in a bottle that tastes fresher, is between 45 to 80 calories for 2 tablespoons, Bolthouse Farms has a salad dressing for you.  They also have a variety of olive oil vinaigrettes. Their vinaigrettes are between 30 – 60 calories for 2 tablespoons with some having 0% fat!  How do they do that!  In some of their vinaigrettes they not only use olive oil but also flaxseed oil.

I love that Bolthouse Farms is also a company with a conscience. They use Solar Power Farming which reduces emissions and fossil fuel.  They also created a distribution model, named Fresh Logistics, that distributes their products via high speed rail from Bakersfield (where their farm is located) to Chicago and dispersed from there.  This also cuts down on pollution and the use of diesel and gas. They also participate in the Spray Safe program that prevents any harm to the surrounding areas. Bolthouse Farms also uses recycle packaging for its products.  I always like seeing a company caring for this earth of ours.

Check the Bolthouse Farms website for more information, recipes and a store near you.  The dressings are available in Canada and U.S.A