Healthy dressings

The ideal would be to learn to enjoy the taste of food as it is, and in the case of wanting to "brighten it up", choose options that enhance them and give them healthy properties. Here we show you some, easy and delicious. Find out what they bring you and how you can enjoy them.

Pesto: a healthy dressing

Pesto sauce It is characterized by being a simple sauce based on oil, parmesan, basil, garlic and pine nuts. Sometimes pecorino cheese is also used. Olive oil gives it flavor, unctuousness and contains monounsaturated fatty acids, allies of the heart. Parmesan contributes to creaminess and flavor by providing and although it contains fat, it also provides a good amount of calcium.

The basil, for its part, gives it the characteristic aroma and the pine nuts have just added the icing also with potassium. Garlic should not stand out in this sauce but it is also a present and nutritionally interesting ingredient. An ideal sauce for our pasta dishes that, in moderation, we can all enjoy.

The freshest vinaigrettes

It could not be easier, preparing a vinaigrette can be done simply with the mixture of oil and vinegar. Now, we can complicate or sophisticated it as much as we want. We tell you some options:

• Fruits can be addedthat give it very interesting aromas and a lot of freshness, for example raspberries, orange, etc., as well as a more caloric option but also very nutritious and healthy.
• Another possibility is honey which, at a nutritional level, adds sugars, and at an organoleptic level, an unequaled texture. Enjoy them in all kinds of salads (greens, pasta, legumes, rice ...) and try different options. It couldn't be easier, preparing a vinaigrette can be done simply with the mixture of oil and vinegar.

However,we can complicate or sophisticate it as much as we want.

Mustard: an intense flavor

Mustard sauce It is a mixture of intense flavor, which allows us to obtain a lot of flavor with little quantity. As commercial sauces can be much more caloric, we can try to prepare it at home as it is not complicated: it is about combining grains or mustard seeds (previously macerated or boiled) with different ingredients: vinegar, wine, some sugary product such as maple syrup or dissolved sugar, and spices like turmeric ...It is ideal to flavor meat and fish dishes.

Very light option: tomato, onion and basil

As with all popular recipes, there are as many ways to make stir-fry as there are people who prepare it.But the base of a traditional sauce is usually this: onion, tomato and oil, to which we can add aromatic herbs to taste. As for it, the ideal is to choose it from virgin olive so that it is more heart-healthy.Sofrito can be added as the base of many dishes: from rice and legumes, to meat or fish ...

Lemon sauce, antioxidant

A very fresh and aromatic food is lemon. It also provides us with vitamin C, with antioxidant properties, potassium and, depending on the part we use, we may even take part of the fiber (if we use the skin or the pulp, it is advisable to choose pieces from organic farming).

• A dressing provides flavor but it can also provide nutritional properties that we must assess when choosing it.
• When we talk about sauces we are not only referring to a dressing based on fats or oils, since the base can also be vegetables, aromatic herbs ...
• Pesto is strong but a good source of calcium and monounsaturated fatty acids; while tomato or lemon-based vinaigrettes or sauces are lighter and antioxidant.