When I started LCing again this time I also tossed out all the polyunsaturated vegetable oils and everything made with them.

All of the bottled salad dressings went, which means I've spent the past month experimenting with making dressings from scratch. Now I can't believe I didn't start doing it sooner. I'm hooked on homemade bleu cheese dressing, and have also made some wonderful creamy herb dressings with fresh homegrown herbs (including tarragon, dill, oregano, Italian parsley) and fresh garlic.

Problem is, I'm now spoiled. I went out of town over the weekend, and while I stuck very closely to plan all the dressings I ate were gross. I had some chunky bleu cheese dressing that I used to like, and it tasted like a big glob of soybean oil (which, frankly, it is). In other dressings, I could also taste the sugars, which I hadn't been able to do before.

When I got in last night I was starving, so I made myself a steak and a salad smothered in homemade garlic-bleu cheese dressing. Three days away had given the flavors in the dressing time to develop, and it was absolutely wonderful. And as I ate it, I thought, "Man, it's good to be home..."