Monday, March 17, 2014

5 Ingredient Vinaigrette




Spring is in the air and with it comes the promise of gorgeous and delicious spring and summer salads.  Many people eat salads with the best of intentions, but ruin their healthful creation by piling on gobs of unhealthy dressings.  Even those so called "lite" dressings, which may be low in calories, are chock-full of ingredients that are detrimental to your health.


store-bought processed dressing

Here is an example of a popular Italian dressing. First ingredient - canola oil! This is NOT a healthy oil. It causes low-level inflammation in the body, a precursor to disease.  Not to mention the other harmful ingredients such as monosodium glutamate (msg) and polysorbate-60.




What most people don't realize is how SIMPLE and DELICIOUS making your own, healthful salad dressings can be!  Below is a recipe for a home made, simple, 5 ingredient  spring strawberry vinaigrette made with all fresh, real-food ingredients. So simple to make, takes no more than a few minutes with just a few basic ingredients.

Spring Strawberry Vinaigrette

- 6 organic strawberries (medium)
- 1 small shallot or 1/4 white onion
- 2 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon raw, local honey

Remove stems from strawberries and cut in half.  Place in a food processor or VitaMix.  Chop the shallot or onion and add to strawberries.  Next add the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and honey.  Mixture should look like this pre-mixed:
dressing ingredients pre-mixed



Blend.  Poor in mason jar.  Voila!  Delicious home made vinaigrette to be served on any salad or used as a dip for veggies.  Makes 4 oz.  Keeps for a week in the refrigerator.
strawberry vinaigrette dressing



Olive oil is an extremely healthy oil in its uncooked state, providing loads of healthy omega-3's.  It is also rich in polyphenols which has anti-inflammatory properties (the very opposite of canola). That said, olive oil is not suited for medium or high-heat cooking as olive oil has a very low smoke point. Save your olive oil for dressings and marinades like our nourishing spring strawberry vinaigrette.

For your strawberries, it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that you choose organic.  Strawberries are on the "dirty dozen" list of one of the foods most highly contaminated with pesticides.  There are 54 pesticide residues confirmed by the USDA found on conventional strawberries, many being known carcinogens and neurotoxins.  Pesticides cannot be washed off of foods.  They are found in the meat of the fruit or vegetable.

This simple Spring Strawberry Vinaigrette is one of the recipes found in my Seasonal   Nourishing Spring Menu Plan. All of the recipes found in these plans are just as simple and nutritious as this dressing.  Full details here.  Weekly shopping lists provided and delivered straight to your inbox!

Be well,

Janelle

Interested in learning more?  Please visit my website.

5 comments:

  1. This dressing looks amazing! Also thank your for the reminder on why it is important to purchase organic strawberries. It is something that we should always remember! I will be trying this recipe this summer for sure. Thank you for sharing this!

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  2. My Vitamixer is itching to get mixing after reading this great recipe. It's almost sinful that we used bottled up chemical messes instead of nice fresh whole food dressings. When you show us how easy it is to do...who in their right mind wouldn't do it your way? I can't wait for strawberries to come in season!

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