Salad Days

I’ve never met a salad with strawberries I didn’t like. The juxtaposition of crunchy greens and sweet fruit is YUM! Here’s a quick dressing you can throw together next time you’re thinking of adding berries to your salad. It’s just a little bit sweet and a little bit creamy, which brings out the flavor of the fruit. It’s also nice as a dip for carrot sticks.

Cashew Cream Dressing

1/3 cup soy milk (or regular milk, if you insist)
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup cashews
2 tablespoons currants or raisins

Blend all of the ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth and creamy.

Today’s salad is a mixture of greens, red grapes, and walnuts topped with an ultra-fresh-tasting avocado-pear-cucumber dressing. (The dressing is based on one published on DrFuhrman.com, but tweaked to my liking.)

I love this dressing for two reasons. First, the only fat in it comes from an avocado. Many people perceive avocados as a high-fat, high-calorie food that should be avoided or consumed in only token amounts. Fats from avocado, raw nuts, and seeds, however, are rich in antioxidants and phytochemicals that not only offer unique health benefits, but also maintain the freshness of the food, preventing rancidity of the fat within. Oh-la-la!

The second reason I love this dressing is that there’s no way to “over dress” your salad. The dressing tastes so fresh and delicious you’ll want to eat it straight with a spoon! (Just ask my husband: after scooping some dressing into a container for my lunchtime salad this morning, I ate a spoonful right from the jar. Nick, a salad-dressing minimalist, even likes gobs of this over his greens.)

Bon appetite!

Avocado Goddess Dressing
Yield: 2 cups

1/2 pear, cored & cut in small pieces
1 pickle size cucumber (4-6” long), peeled & cut up
1/2 ripe avocado
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp no-salt seasoning
1 tbsp fresh dill
1 tbsp fresh cilantro

Put all of the ingredients except fresh herbs in a high-power blender and blend until creamy. Add the herbs and pulse a few times until there are little green specks throughout the dressing. Pour generously over your salad.

Image courtesy of Gaetan Lee.