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Showing posts with label pine nuts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pine nuts. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Cherry Chipotle Salad Dressing



Hello my friends!

Has it been this long? Do all my posts have to start like this? My goodness! I would offer up a humble apology but well, we've been down this road before and I suppose it goes to show I am having so much fun living it up that it's hard to find the time to get on this thing and type away! 
It IS time though, so I want to share with you all my biggest discovery and creation of the last year! I'll call this "The Salad Dressing That Changed My Life!"

I don't know if any of you knew this about me, but for a nutritarian, meaning, someone who eats a LOT of greens (!!) I am seriously salad challenged! Or at least, I was! Nine years now I've eaten like this, and it's taken me all this time to find a dressing I like! A lot! That's sad! Especially with the many different dressing ideas out there, to say I had never even found ONE I looked forward to...tragic! Not to mention obnoxious! 

I've spent the first 8 years of nutri-life getting my greens through green smoothies that I learned to PACK with the stuff, so much so that a couple of those a day met my requirements. But gosh, did I tell you I HATE being cold? And those made me sooooooo freezing! When I lived in Abu Dhabi aka hot central, evaporate your butt into nothingness hot, the cold was...tolerable. Kinda. But now that I am back in the land of human being weather aka Ohio, cold stuff isn't my friend. In fact, the only time I like ice in my drink is when my beverage of choice is a juice, iced tea or sparkles! Heaven help you if you put ice in my water! Cold sucks! 

SO! Now that we have that established, I want to get on with it and share with you the miracle of lazy! Because this particular day, when I stumbled upon the accidental creation of my first OMG recipe I knew I instantly could not live without forevermore, it was just that--pure unadulterated 100% Grade L "Lazy" and I'm not ashamed to say it! Sometimes, it gets tiring being the only one who can make my food as good as I make it! I mean, going out to eat is fun. But lets face it, in the nutri-world, I'm grateful if a restaurant has anything I *will* eat, never mind if it's as good as what I make myself at home. It's not. I can already tell you that! Restaurants always seem to have awful, sad, veggies and fruits that have been pre-cut for days and show little signs of life by the time they make their way to me. It's usually disappointing. LoL! I can't just go into a store and buy a bottle of salad dressing either. I have to make EVERYTHING! And as much as I loooove to create, some days I'm just not wanting to fuss and so....I don't!

Well folks, this day it worked out for me. Particularly well, in fact! It may seem stupid simple, but behold! Below, I present to you the salad dressing that changed my life. Giggle. You don't even need any fancy equipment to do it! How about that? On this day, all I had at my disposal were some salad ingredients, and a bag of frozen dark sweet cherries. No nuts to make a dressing. No dates. Nada. No mangoes. That was it, slim pickings I believe they used to say. So I figured "What the heck?!" and in my desperation and hunger (being hungry really does make everything sound amazing, doesn't it?) I took the cherries, plopped them on the counter and quickly forgot about them. I think honestly I had intended to just eat them frozen! But, um...I forgot. So they sat there. And sat. And sat. Until finally I found them, and to my horror, they were nothing but a bag of sloshy, liquidy cherryness that threw me for a loop with how much liquid they released when they thawed! Immediately, I thought--I'm gonna blend this! Yes! 

And blend away I did. The result? OMG. Amazing! Seriously! I was bounding to the table practically, so excited to eat of course, but even more excited to share! I knew I had struggled to find an easy dressing that wasn't loaded with dates and nuts or tofu, that had the potential to make me excited to eat a salad--and now I'd done it! Yes! Score one for lazy! Now I could share it with the rest of the salad challenged population! Is that you? Oh come on. Be honest. Nobody likes that faux-ranch crap in the nutri-books! It's nothing like ranch and weirds me out. All of them. Gross. But this one? Judge for yourself! It's versatile too! 






Feeling savory? Add some garlic, chipotle, onion powder and black pepper! I love spice islands spices! No, I am not an affiliate of any kind! 







       Feeling like a vinaigrette? Add some Balsamic! The Oilerie makes my FAVORITE aged Balsamic Vinegar...ever! Again, NO sponsorship here! Just looooove.




Need a hit of creaminess? Add some cashews! Or pine nuts! Swoon. I LOVE pine nuts! Hint hint.



Seriously, this dressing makes me VERY happy!


HUH? What are these? STAY TUNED!


Are you ready for the recipe?
Are you sure?
Got your pen?
PIN button handy? 
Printer on? OK!
Here it is, in all it's "L Rated" Glory....


XOXO,
Jemoiselle






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    --Jemoiselle's Signature-- 
Cherry Chipotle Salad Dressing


Ingredients:
        1 Bag Frozen Dark Sweet Cherries
        1/4c Balsamic Vinegar
        1/4 tsp Chipotle Pepper Powder
        1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
        1/2 tsp Onion Powder
        1/2 tsp Black Pepper

Instructions: 
         1. Allow cherries to thaw.
         2. Add everything into vitamix, food processor, or blender.
         3. Blend, taste, adjust, send me pine nuts. ;) 
                                              AHEM! I mean, ENJOY! 

Yield: Not nearly enough. 

Storage: Irrelevant. You won't be able to stop eating it. Sorry! (Not sorry!) Seriously, I don't know. I eat it too fast for it to go bad.  ;) If you have any left, the fridge will be fine. Shake before each use.