Good morning!
Ohhhh Saturday mornings are my absolute favourite time of the entire week! Eric and I watched some cartoons and ate cereal. Good times. :mrgreen:
I realized this morning that I have been keeping something from you all. Well, two things actually.
The first one is what I like to call Fudgsicle Soft Serve
Oh yes.
1 large frozen banana, a glug of almond milk, and 1/2 tablespoon of cocoa powder! It tastes just like a soft, melting fudgsicle. Process in a food processor for a couple minutes and…BOOM.
Now onto salad talk.
Salads are a staple in my diet. I love experimenting with different toppings and dressings. The lettuce is really like a blank slate- what ever you decide to put on it always comes out fabulous.
Better Than Bottled Balsamic Vinaigrette
The easiest and most delicious homemade dressing I have ever made!
Adapted from Dreena Burton’s Eat Drink & Be Vegan ‘Back-to-Basics’ dressing.
Ingredients:
- 2.5 tablespoons balsamic, white, or red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard or regular mustard
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- Ground black pepper to taste
- 1/2 minced clove of garlic (optional)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Directions: Toss all ingredients into a bowl and whisk! Makes about 1/2 cup of dressing.
This was sooooooo easy. I can’t believe I bought bottled stuff for all those years!
This dressing has an array of delicious flavours:
- sweet– maple
- tang– vinegar
- Buttery and smooth– olive oil
It is SO GOOD!
I had a hunch this would pair perfectly with some dried cranberries. I also sprinkled on some sesame seeds for fun.
The next get together I host I am definitely going to make this dressing. It tasted like a gourmet salad!
Confession #2:
I have recently weaned myself off a long fat-free salad dressing kick.
I bought the fat free stuff for years and years. I was a die hard fan…even though I admit, I couldn’t pronounce many of the ingredients on the bottle.
I always thought that if I used the regular stuff with oil I would be consuming too many calories. But you know what I discovered? A little bit of the GOOD stuff- with fat!- is much more satisfying than drowning the salad in fat free dressing. I have just a couple tablespoons of this homemade dressing on my salad and it is perfection. The olive oil gives the salad more satiety too.
When you use the real stuff, less is more.
I used to be the fat free QUEEN, my friends. I bought fat-free cheese slices, fat-free yogurt, fat-free ice cream, fat-free cool whip, fat-free candy, fat-free cookies, etc!
It is quite funny because now I eat a ton of healthy fats in my diet, from avocados to nut butters, chia seeds to olive oil. I never used to eat any of these things in the past because I was scared of the fat. My poor body was deprived of healthy fat for years. Luckily I am making up for lost time! :mrgreen:
~~~
I’m off to shower and then hit the road to meet Krissy at a huge outlet mall. So excited!!The perfect activity for this rainy Saturday.
At least the snow is almost gone…
Have a Fabulous Saturday!
Happiness is a way station between too much and too little.
~Channing Pollock
LOVE making my own salad dressings! I realized one day how much of the bottled stuff I was going through (I pour salad dressing on MANY more things than salads), and decided to look up a recipe online to see how hard it would be to make my own. I’ve gone dressing crazy since then! I make a new one every day.
I’ve given up a lot of fat free stuff (I, too, used to be a fat free queen), but one thing I haven’t given up yet it fat free cheese. I get tons of healthy fats from other things, though, so I’m OK with it.
I used to be the same way with fat free foods. Even though it tasted like crap, I’d still buy it but then I’d find myself never eating it! (Dressing in particular). I can’t wait to try that dressing recipe! I’m totally saving this post. Thanks!
My favorite balsamic dressing is balsamic vinegar, olive oil, pepper and a little bit of hot sauce. It’s really amazing if you chop up 2 tomatoes, 2 avocados, and 1/2 of a red onion- then add the vinaigrette and let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours. In my experience, this turns out more like a chunky dip than a real salad- so I serve it with blue corn chips!
My current favorite salad dressing is even more simple- olive oil and lemon juice with black pepper and Parmesan cheese (not vegan, I know, but I bet you could make this with your vegan “parmesan cheez”). This is really good tossed with spring mix, and really really good if you then put it on top of whole wheat pizza dough (for salad pizza!) or hot bread so it wilts a little bit.
Note: The pizza dough should be cooked and brushed with a little olive oil or tomato sauce- not raw.
I’m still on a search for my fav homemade salad dressing! Think I’ll try your recipe out today or tomorrow. Sounds delic!
I also make a Chocolate Banana soft serve, almost nightly! I like to add some Cacao nibs and Mulberries for texture.
I am such a fan of homemade dressing now and this looks great!
Agreed on restaurant salads, I had loads of wilted iceberg “ghetto” lettuce.
Since going raw, my views on fat have changed and I eat a lot more than I used to in good fats. I’m guilty of sticking to nonfat stuff in my not-so-healthy days and love not worrying about that anymore.
I love warm weather, its +5C in Sask already, and its only 10am!
I make a super easy dressing almost every time I make a salad at home. I don’t even mix it in a bowl..just top it on the salad and toss. The huz loves it too. A few splashes of apple cider vin + balsamic vin [4% acidity] + olive oil + garlic/salt/parsley seasoning + cracked black pepper…AWEsome!! :) I used to be all about the fat free too…except with cheese. Fat free cheese scared me because it didn’t melt!!! haha
Holy cow I used to do that too! Fat-free crap everywhere! Now I can’t be bothered. And I share your disdain with restaurant salads: they are terrible! Iceberg lettuce, croutons and carrots. Ewww!
Been there done that with the fat fear. I used to never touch nut butters, only buy FF dressings, buy FF cheese, etc. Of course now I still eat FF stuff (yogurt, milk, etc), but I don’t fear the fat at all! I love me some good healthy fats :-) And I don’t freak out over low fat yogurt (especially greek – that stuff is just so dang good!)
i used to be huge into fat-free & diet foods too – its crazy how your attitudes can change!
i hate weak salads from restaurants too, but sometimes i feel like i can never truly master a great salad at home! ill need to try sprucing them up like you & have some of that banana/choco concoction for dessert!
i’m just now getting to the point where i’m ok with eating healthy fats…fat is such a scary word after all! i’m definitely trying the soft serve tonight :)
YUMMY looking soft serve!
how do you think chocolate superfood (amazing grass) would taste in place of the cocoa???
i did that in Kristen’s CCB smoothie and it was amazing!
I can’t see why it wouldn’t work!
I always buy the low fat dressing also! Although lately I’ve been using oil and vinegar. And Apple Cider Vingar is also great on salads!
I used to eat ff salad dressing because I was so worried about calories but now like you I am more concerned with health. That looks like a great recipe!
I used to only use FF salad dressing as well, but have been experimenting with hummus, salsa etc as toppings which taste SO much better. Your chocolate soft-serve looks amazing – I need to try it out!
That is so funny, that is almost exactly my recipe for salad dressing. I usually use sugar instead of maple though so I’ll have to try that out!
I must make your dressing at home someday! I’ve been doing something very similar but instead of mapel syrup and apple cider vinegar I added lemon juice (from fresh lemons), it’s yummy too! :) I love everything with vinegar, my latest find is rasperry vinegar.
I wanted to comment on your bowls you used for the fudgesicle soft serve — are those heirlooms? My grandmother gave me a set that look very similar from childhood, probably from the 1930s. So pretty!
I’d like to say they are heirlooms, but sadly they are from Crate and Barrel if my memory serves me correctly! LOL.
Your salad pics are beautiful!
Yay for real dressing! So much tastier… Can’t wait to see what great concoctions you come up with :-)