Celery Seed Dressing

Another fine use of tomato soup!

Celery Seed Dressing

1 can tomato soup

1 1/2 c salad oil

3/4 c vinegar

3/4 c sugar

1 tsp mustard

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp celery seed

Juice of 1 orange

Combine all and store in refrigerator

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One thing I have been abundantly grateful to find out in my thirties is how easy it is to make dressing. I mean, really, how exciting is it to be able to control the amount of sweet-tart-tangy-saltiness of what you are putting on your lettuce (in my case, salads are usually a combination of various green things, fruits, nuts, cheese and maybe some beans or hard-boiled eggs)!!?

This particular recipe for dressing makes an entire quart FULL. It reminds me of a “french dressing” but is more complex than that with the celery seed and orange juice. I tried it on a salad with carrots, Parmesan cheese and sunflower seeds and it was tasty. My son loves it and has had it on sandwiches and eggs and says it’s great on everything he has tried. I can imagine this is why Gramma wrote the recipe down and collected it from her mother - because it was VERY GOOD.

Some notes - I used spicy brown mustard, sunflower oil and white distilled vinegar and I would use less sugar next time (just my personal preference). If you like things to be less sweet, I would start with half the sugar or use something that won’t give you a major sugar crash like monk fruit or honey instead. You can always add more if you think it needs it!

Here is a nice, blurry picture of my (L-R) Uncle Brad, his mom/my gramma June, and her mom/my great-gramma Mae Hartwig having a laugh around the kitchen table at my great-gramma’s house. I would guess this is late 70s early 80s based on the full denim + mustache combo.