(Gerry Furth-Sides) It’s been so long that I can’t even remember seeing purchased salad dressing on our fridge shelf. Then I received an invitation to try California-based Mooney Farms’ salad dressings. We love them! A drizzle takes the place of individually adding flavored or EVOO olive oil, rice vinegar and now-gone Melissa’s Produce herb grinder to a dish.

The salad dressings made with 100% California oil are making their debut here in Los Angeles. Researching other dressings for oil designations confirmed that even very expensive dressings labeled “Italian olive oil” these days do not designate actual origin. Due to crop shortages it can come from any variety of places.

There are three available varieties: Authentic Balsamic Vinaigrette with absolutely silky, aged balsamic vinegar and our go-to favorite; a familiar friend, Tuscan-Style Sonoma Vinaigrette, rich with garlic and sun-dried tomatoes, and Premium California Vinaigrette with sweet oranges and wildflower honey that has a slight tang to it.

The name “Bella Sun Luci” sounded vaguely familiar. That’s because a bottle of their their sun-dried tomatoes, that has been a fridge mainstay since we found it at COSTCO years ago.

The Bella Sun Luci Italian Kitchen line actually is best known for Sun Dried Tomatoes dried under the central California sun, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil. We used to add the fresh-flavored oil from them to our salads!

Below is our beef, artichoke heart, black olive and chopped sun-dried tomato on a bed of chopped romaine lettuce.

For any salad begging to be finished off with a Mediterranean flavor, the Bella Sun Luci Sonoma Vinaigrette fits the bill.

We also added a few chopped up sun-dried tomatoes to the salad to enhance the flavor. The tomatoes are so dense we use kitchen shears Below is a shrimp, roasted corn and peas (Trader Joe frozen), plus fresh pine nuts and baby tomatoes (courtesy of Melissa’s Produce) on a bed of mixed greens.

We love and are “never without” the frozen 2-lb bags of excellent shrimp from our supermarket offered on the Friday sale at $5 a pound. A drizzle of Bella Sun Luci California Vinaigrette to the shrimp after cooking lends a summery, citrusy flavor and a unique finish.

A drizzle of Bella Sun Luci Sonoma Vinaigrette and sun-dried tomato completes our textured “Land and Sea Double Protein” salad. We love it year-round to inspire a touch of summer. All the ingredients are easy to keep on hand: (frozen) French haricot vert, tinned sardines, hard boiled egg, chopped Bella Sun Luck sun-dried tomato, homemade croutons, swiss cheese cubes and hazelnuts (courtesy Melissa’s produce). Lightly toast the hazelnuts to be sure of their crunch.

Premium California Vinaigrette is made with sweet oranges and wildflower honey. Each dressing starts with Mooney Farms’ own California Extra Virgin Olive Oil the highest quality ingredients added to each one, such as herbs, spices, robust vinegar, orange peel, and raw honey.

Last but not least and our favorite that we are trying over just about every salad, veggie and pasta dish is the Bella Sun Luci Balsamic Vinaigrette. It shows off the purest of the Bella Sun Luci flagship product line vinaigrettes , features premium California-grown and Mediterranean-inspired foods created from authentic family recipes.

Founded in 1986, Mooney Farms in Chico, California is a third-generation certified, woman-owned family farm. (Whether it is because it is women owned or not, when I had a problem with the bottle seal, I got an immediate response on how to use it properly!)

The highly respected family has a 100,000-square-foot facility and 200-year-old olive trees planted among rows of lavender and rosemary, which reflects the family’s rich history of the Mediterranean.

The Bella Sun Luci line also includes deliciously sweet Plant-Based Tomato Jerky, Pasta Sauces, Bruschetta Spreads, Bottled Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Risotto, and Marinades. Visit BellaSunLuci.com to learn more and follow on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.

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