How To Make Thousand Islands Dressing

Has there ever been a time where you actually smacked yourself upside the head? This was my *doh* moment.

Thousand islands salad dressing: ubiquitous, popular, familiar, and most purchased. I'm not embarrassed to admit that it's my first choice to dress a garden salad. I've always loved it, ever since I was a kid.

Over at my regular blog, Gotta Little Space, I have a 100 Things To Make list, and on that list is thousand islands dressing. So a few days ago I decided there's no time like the present and I just did it. And that was my *doh* moment. Because in less than five minutes I'd whipped up a homemade version of thousand islands dressing that was just as familiar as Kraft.

Except...except I made it with ingredients everyone has in their kitchen, and without the unpronounceable mystery ingredients listed on the product page of Kraft's website, for example:

SOYBEAN OIL, TOMATO PUREE (WATER, TOMATO PASTE), VINEGAR, SUGAR, CHOPPED PICKLES, SALT, WATER, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF XANTHAN GUM, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, LACTIC ACID, DRIED ONIONS, CITRIC ACID, POLYSORBATE 60, PROPYLENE GLYCOL ALGINATE, SPICE, MUSTARD FLOUR, VITAMIN E, NATURAL FLAVOR, OLEORESIN TURMERIC.

I took the liberty of researching a few of the strange phrases for you - if you click on the links it will take you to a description of what they really are. My question is this: if it's this easy to make my own, minus those wonky ingredients, why the heck have I been buying it for so long??

What about you, what's your best *doh* moment?

Thousand Islands Salad Dressing
Recipezaar
Makes 3/4 cup

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish or chopped pickles
1 teaspoon finely minced white onion
1/8 teaspoon salt
few grindings black pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Stir well to combine and refrigerate several hours, stirring occasionally, to allow sugar to dissolve and flavors to marry.