CARROT GINGER SALAD DRESSING

One of my favorite places to shop is our local Trader Joe's market.  I am there at LEAST every three day if not every other day!   They have unique items that you don't find at regular grocery stores and many gourmet / healthy items at very reasonable prices.  I was on the run last Friday day and went in and grabbed this Spinach Salad and fell in love with Carrot Ginger dressing they used.  

I found a wonderful recipe on Epicurious that I used to make this one and it is fabulous!  And the good news is that it is raw, for all you raw food enthusiasts.

Here's the recipe...

CARROT GINGER SALAD DRESSING

1/2 lb carrots (3 medium), coarsely chopped

1/4 cup chopped peeled fresh ginger

1/4 cup chopped shallots or the bottom half of green onion stalks

1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil or olive oil

1/4 cup water

Pulse carrots in a food processor until finely ground (almost puréed). Add chopped ginger, chopped shallots, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and salt and pulse until ginger and shallots are minced. With the motor running, add oil in a slow stream.

Transfer mixture to a blender. Add 1/4 cup water and blend until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Thin dressing with additional water if desired. 

Cooks' note: Dressing keeps, covered and chilled, 1 week.

I hope you enjoy it as much as my friends and I did!

SUMMER PEACH SALAD WITH PEPITAS

Summer is rolling quickly past us here in Los Angeles.  I am a bit sad by it because the weather in Southern California is quite nice year round.  It's hot where we live in the summer, but we can drive 20 minutes to be near the beach and have fabulous weather.  I've been eating a lot of peaches for breakfast, raw or in smoothies this summer, but I thought what about in a salad?  I've seen a few recipes that use nectarines and so I thought, why not, let's try it! 

PEACH SALAD WITH PEPITAS

1 package arugula salad mix (spring mix or baby greens will works too)
1 organic cucumber (I made strips with my vegetable peeler to change it up)
1-2 organic roma tomatos, to your liking
1/4-1/2 chopped red onion to your liking (you can also use green onion)
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped (optional)
2 peaches, sliced
1/2 cup Pepitas, or more if you'd like

DRESSING:

Creamy Cucumber Avocado Dressing - find the recipe HERE

Mix all the salad ingredients in a big bowl, plate, drizzle on the dressing and serve.

This salad is so refreshing!
I hope to do one more peach recipe tomorrow to get ready for the long weekend.


Enjoy!


Photo: Taken by Felicia using iPhone 4, Summer Peach Salad, Creamy Avocado Cumumber Dressing, Plate from Ikea, paper from Michaels.

CREAMY CUCUMBER AVOCADO DRESSING

I love this dressing because it's so flavorful and creamy and is based on using a lot of fresh vegetables.  I have been using this as a dip, as a salad dressing and I even mixed it into one of the vegetable purees the other day to add flavor.  You may have seen that post on my Instagram yesterday.  This dressing is extremely tasty to say the least.  This recipe was adapted from Sunset Magazine.

CREAMY CUCUMBER AVOCADO DRESSING

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 english cucumber minced

1 avocado, peeled and pitted

1 cup baby spinach

1/2 cup cilantro (If you don't like cilantro you and use mint to make a slightly different version)

2 green onions

1 lemon, juice of

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1/2 teason salt - you can add more to taste

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white or black pepper

Purée all ingredients with 3/4 cup water in a food processor until smooth.

Makes about 2 cups

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION for 1/4 cup serving

• Calories: 75
• Calories from fat: 80%
• Protein: 0.8g
• Fat: 6.8g
• Saturated fat: 0.9g
• Carbohydrate: 3.9g
• Fiber: 2g
• Sodium: 288mg
• Cholesterol: 0.0mg

Enjoy!
       
Photo:  Creamy Cucumber Avocado Dressing, Organic Rainbow Carrots from Whole Foods, Paper from Michaels Arts & Crafts 

RAW PEANUT SAUCE

Peanut Sauce

There's nothing like a refreshing salad on a hot summer's day.  I've wanting to change up the salads I have been making to something different.  Thai sounds good, I thought.  When I was checking out some of my favorite food blogs the other day, I saw this peanut sauce recipe on Sprouted Kitchen. The Sprouted Kitchen recipe is not raw, so if you want to make a non-raw version, then this one is very tasty.  

I switched one ingredient... I used raw peanuts instead of peanut butter.  Just to warn you, the raw recipe is not as creamy and smooth as the peanut butter recipe, but it is very tasty just the same.

 

RAW PEANUT SAUCE

 

1 cup raw peanuts (soaked for 4 hours or more and drained) or creamy, unsalted peanut butter

2 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons fresh grated ginger

zest and juice of one large lime

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari

2 teaspoons rice vinegar

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

2-4 tablespoons light coconut milk or water, as needed

1/4 cup chopped cilantro, optional

1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt

Add all of the ingredients besides cilantro to a high speed  blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust as preferred. Add the cilantro, give it another few pulses and store in an airtight jar in the fridge.

I can see using this on various dishes.  Very tasty.

Enjoy.