There’s nothing like fresh Catalina dressing on a salad

One of my favorite lunches at Grandmother Mauer's house was a half canned peach with cottage cheese scooped into its center, served on lettuce leaves and drizzled with Kraft's Catalina dressing. After Grandma Mauer passed away, I still made this salad from time to time.

My partner, Nan, makes a fresh spinach leaf salad with sliced hard-boiled eggs and drizzles it with an Aldi version of Catalina dressing. She says it is the only way to go.

Nan blends that dressing with mayonnaise to cut the dressing's sweetness. Too sweet? Yes.

I picked up her dressing bottle, turned it around, and looked at the ingredients: sugar leads the list; nearly 40% of the dressing's calories come from sugar. More than half of the remaining calories come from fat. Ninety-six percent of that dressing's total calories come from sugar and fat.

When I tasted that dressing, Nan was right. It was too sweet.

My issue with most bottled salad dressings is soybean oil.

Wanting to create a homemade no added sugar, no soybean oil Catalina-style dressing, I went to the internet and found several copycat dressing recipes. I picked the one at food.com.

I substituted organic stevia for the sugar and extra-virgin olive oil for the vegetable oil. I also went with an organic, no-sugar-added ketchup. I whirled it together in my blender and gave it a taste. It tasted almost exactly like Nan's Catalina-style dressing and was just as sweet; too sweet.

I cut the stevia back by 25% (nine packets instead of 12) and made it again. It's still sweet, but not too sweet.

Is my dressing a better Catalina-style dressing? I believe so. The only issue with my dressing is that it gets very thick and almost unpourable when it is refrigerated.

My solution is to bring it out about a half hour before use, and it pours just fine.

Give it a try.

Catalina-Style, No-Sugar-Added Salad Dressing

9 packets stevia sugar substitute (equal to 6 tablespoons sugar)

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon celery seed

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon grated onion, or to taste

1/4 cup distilled white vinegar

1/3 cup no-sugar-added tomato ketchup

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

Transfer to a glass jar and refrigerate.

Bring to room temperature and shake before using.

Makes about 1 cup.

Nutrition values per tablespoon: 57 calories (95% from fat), 6 g fat (0.8 g saturated fat), 0.6 g carbohydrates, 0.3 g sugars, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein, 0 mg cholesterol, 157 mg sodium.

The recipe can be doubled.

Don Mauer