Don't get me wrong, I love a little sweet in my dressing, but I'm thinking I need to switch to honey, like sb said.
I love to make your basic italian dressing such as olive oil, balsamic, a crushed garlic clove, salt and pepper - and a dash of sugar. maybe a tsp of dry mustard or dijon. when you toss the basic green salad with tomato and zuchinni and not much else, add chopped/toasted pine nuts and parmesan slivers.
I'm telling you though - Good Seasons Zesty Italian Dressing in the package is hard to beat, using olive oil and white wine vinegar, and a pinch of sugar.
My personal fave that I usually make:
start with base of 1-2 crushed garlic cloves
mash in a few pinches of sea salt
I usually end up putting these in a small processor to blend well.. then add:
white wine vinegar or white wine balsamic vinegar
olive oil
honey OR honey mustard OR sugar OR maple syrup - something to balance the sea salt.
blend well in little processor.
there is something about the garlic/seasalt base that is delicious and you can do a new twist to it every time.