CREAMY ITALIAN SALAD DRESSING

Salads are a super weight loss food … until you put the dressing on top. Most salad dressings are loaded with calories and plenty of not-so-good-for-you ingredients. But this rich and creamy salad dressing is a much healthier option. Not only is it lower in refined fats, but it contains no cholesterol, and it’s higher in fiber than any salad dressing you’ll find on the supermarket shelf. With this zippy dressing, there is no need to skimp … Pour it on!

WHAT ABOUT FAT-FREE SALAD DRESSINGS?

If you are trying to lose weight, you may be tempted to choose low-fat or fat-free dressing. Unfortunately, these are not good options since the ingredients used to replace the fat in these dressings actually encourage weight gain.

What to eat?! This Creamy Italian Dressing is the perfect solution. : ) It offers naturally healthy, whole-food, plant-based fats that will actually help with weight loss.

HATE VEGETABLES?

By the way, this Creamy Italian Salad Dressing is a great tool for making those “yucky” vegetables taste pretty good. Serve it over steamed broccoli, carrots, greens, cabbage, or cauliflower. Creamy Italian Dressing also makes a healthful topping for potatoes.

And pile it on! It’s good for you … and it’s not fattening!

Creamy Italian Salad Dressing

This zippy dressing is much lower in refined fat and higher in fiber than most creamy Italian dressings.

prep time : 5 mins total time : 5 mins

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup water

• 2/3 cup raw cashews

• 1/3 cup lemon juice

• 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic or 1 clove garlic

• 1/4 cup olive oil - optional

• 2 teaspoons dried parsley

• 2 teaspoons dried basil

• 2 teaspoons granulated onion

• 1 teaspoon dried oregano

• 1 teaspoon dried minced or chopped onion – optional

• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt

Instructions

1. Place water, cashews, lemon juice, and garlic into blender and blend on high speed until very smooth and creamy. NOTE: For a smooth and creamy dressing, be sure to use a high-powered blender. Without one, the results won't be creamy.

2. Add oil and blend very well.

3. Add seasonings and blend until mixed.

4. Chill.

5. Stir before using.

CARROT SALAD WITH MAPLE-MUSTARD DRESSING

This baby carrot salad will make you LOVE carrots! It has a crunchy texture you’ll love and the maple-mustard dressing gives it a special flavor!

Carrots are one of the most common vegetables in the world. They make their way into almost every soup, salad, stir-fry and dish you could think of. Their sweet flavour always brings a wonderful contrast to your meals and the vibrant orange colour brings beauty to the dish.

But carrots are a lot more than just a great vegetable in terms of flavour and colour; they have many amazing things to offer our bodies as well. Let’s find out!

Benefits of Carrots

Carrots pose a lot of benefits to our health; for starters, they are packed with important vitamins like vitamin A, K and C. An average carrot contains 204% of daily recommended values of vitamin A, 8 mcg of vitamin K, and 6% of the recommended daily values of vitamin C.

Vitamin A is greatly beneficial to the health of your eyes; it helps them maintain moisture and mucus levels, and it helps them strengthen their ability to adjust to the light. That’s why carrots can be really beneficial for your sight! Vitamin K is also very helpful as it helps your blood to be able to clot and it strengthens your bones and kidneys. As for vitamin C, it helps your body absorb iron from the foods you eat.

Then we have fiber! Carrots are packed with fiber which is one of the most nutritional carbohydrates out there. An average, medium carrot is packed with 2 grams of fiber. It gives our bodies energy, and it helps us feel full for longer, that means we’re not consuming empty calories and carbs, which helps our weight loss purposes. Fiber is also a great helper when it comes to maintain blood sugar levels and to maintain a healthy digestive system.

Carrots are also a great source of potassium, providing at least 400 mg of it per carrot. This amazing mineral will reduce the risk of stroke, high blood pressure and it’s also known to relief anxiety. It also aids your metabolism and strengthens your muscles, heart, and nervous system. Potassium also helps lower tension in your blood vessels and arteries, which is why they help reduce risks of cardiovascular disease. They also contain high levels of cholesterol, which is why moderate consumption is recommended, but overall they’re beneficial to your heart.

They also boost your immune system thanks to its antiseptic and antibacterial properties. Carrot helps prevent cancer as well thanks to its content of beta-carotene and also thanks to fiber. They’re even beneficial for your oral health as their antioxidants stimulate the gums and the production of saliva which guards against bacteria and foreign bodies.

Carrots are known to reduce the risk of strokes by 68% in people who eat them every day, and and they’re great to reduce blood sugar levels thanks to carotenoids which affect insulin resistance. These are just a few of all the amazing benefits of making carrots a common ingredient in your diet!

About Carrots

Carrots are a root vegetable, and they’re scientifically classified as Daucus carota. The taproot, most commonly orange part of the carrot is what’s most often consumed, but its greens are also used in salads and other dishes. The carrot we know is a domesticated variety of the wild species that is Daucus carota, and it has its origins in Europe and southwestern Asia. Wild carrots have a woody core element that’s not very pleasant to the palate, that’s why the characteristics we’re familiar with today have been selected through cultivation.

Origins

The domestic variety of carrot is proven to have its origins in Central Asia. The wild ancestor of the carrot already mentioned above is thought to come from Persia (now Iran and Afghanistan). At first, carrots were used for their aromatic leaves and their seeds, not their roots. In fact, there are some close relatives to the carrot that are still used for their leaves and seeds, like cilantro, parsley, coriander, cumin, dill, anise, and fennel. Yes, that’s right! They’re related.

The presence of wild carrots was found in Switzerland, South Germany, Rome, which is where the first mention of the carrot (or parsnip) took place in the 1st century; it was also introduced to Spain in the 8th century and around this time the modern carrot is born in Afghanistan. Eventually, they were cultivated in China, Japan, the Netherlands, America, and the rest is history!

General Facts about Carrots

• Carrots can be traced back about 5,000 years!

• If you thought carrots were only orange, you’re wrong! They can be white, yellow, red, and purple, it’s just that these varieties are less common.

• Carrots are 88% made up of water.

• Carrots can stay in the ground through winter, unlike many other vegetables that need to be plucked and dug up.

• Carrots grow tiny white flowers that provide the seeds to harvest them.

• Carrot’s seed is a schizocarp, which means it’s composed of several carpels that separate to release the seed inside.

• There are more than 100 species of edible carrots today in the world.

• Carrots used to be better and dry, and they gained their characteristic sweetness in the 17th and 18th

• Now, carrots are one of the most sugary vegetables in the world.

• Carrot leaves used to be a fashion statement in 17th century England. Women used to wear them in their hair as accessories!

I love baby carrots! They are cute, tiny, a little bit sweet and I found out they go great with thyme and mustard dressings! I first made a similar dressing/sauce for Christmas last year, when I served this delicious tofurkey roulade and a maple-glazed baby carrots side dish. I fell in love with it and since then I’ve been regularly using it as a dressing in salads as well.

I thought it would go perfectly with this baby carrots salad, and it did! This baby carrots salad is quick, easy to make and very filling. It can feed 2 hungry people or 4 less hungry ones. 🙂

Look, even Paulina liked it! She just kept on sniffing around and didn’t let me take any photos. I think she wanted some too! So, here it is! Enjoy!

Don’t forget to let me know how it was if you’ll give it a try! 😀

Baby Carrot Salad with Maple-Mustard Dressing

This baby carrot salad will make you LOVE carrots! It has a crunchy texture you'll love and the maple-mustard dressing gives it a special flavour!

PREP TIME : 10 mins

COOK TIME : 15 mins

TOTAL TIME : 25 mins

COURSE : Salads

SERVINGS : 2 +

INGREDIENTS

• 300 g baby carrots frozen

• 1 medium lettuce head rinsed and leaves chopped

• 5 scallions chopped

Maple-Mustard Dressing:

• 3 Tbsps mustard

• 1 Tbsp maple syrup

• 3 Tbsps olive oil

• 1/2 lemon's juice

• 2 tsps dry thyme

• sea salt to taste

• 1/2 tsp ground pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

• Steam frozen baby carrots until they're tender, but still have a little bit of crunch (15 minutes).

• Rinse lettuce, remove leaves and chop them. Chop scallions.

• Mix all dressing ingredients together.

• When the baby carrots are ready, mix them with the scallions and lettuce leaves in a large bowl.

• Add dressing and toss salad.

• Serve!

Vegan Caesar Dressing (Oil-free)

Learn how to make homemade Vegan Caesar Dressing and salad at home! Oil-free and dairy-free. This Caesar dressing is made with only 6 main ingredients (+salt/pepper/water) and with buttery pine nuts, is oil-free & is so creamy and a crowd-pleaser.

My all-time favourite Caesar dressing has always been at a restaurant called Houston in my city of…wait for it…. Houston. Their dressing is a bit different than typical Caesar because it was a bit peppery. It was SO addictive, and it always came on the largest salad you ever saw. My hubby and I used to always eat there and having the salad was the best part of the meal.

I kid you not…. I’m so obsessed with this dressing, I have been eating a manly size salad every single day.

HOW DO YOU MAKE A VEGAN CAESAR DRESSING?

Easy, you just start with my secret ingredient..unlike most vegan caesar dressings, I did not use cashews!

The nut of choice is pine nuts. The Reason being is that pine nuts have a more oily, buttery taste to them and are slightly sweet….which basically, means a perfect vegan Caesar dressing.

Your easy Vegan Caesar dressing ingredients:

• raw pine nuts

• fresh lemon juice

• nutritional yeast

• garlic cloves

• dried parsley

• black pepper and salt

I wanted to create a vegan caesar dressing that did not use cashews, oil or soy/tofu. Of course traditional caesar dressing recipes can contain raw egg yolks, anchovies or lots of oil/mayo….sounds kind of gross doesn’t it? Sure did taste good though.

Feel free to use your favorite greens for the salad. I used an Italian salad blend and also added lots of fresh broccoli and pine nuts because I love the added texture it gives. I also sprinkled some extra nutritional yeast on top…..so delicious!

Vegan Caesar Dressing (Oil-free)

An incredibly authentic tasting Vegan Caesar dressing that replaces egg yolks, anchovies and oils with delicious, buttery pine nuts, fresh lemon juice and nutritional yeast to impart the same traditional flavour. This is a dressing that you will feel good about eating.

PREP TIME : 10 mins TOTAL TIME : 10 mins COURSE : Appetizer CUISINE : American, Vegan SERVINGS : 8 servings CALORIES : 74 kcal

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 heaping cup (75g) raw pine nuts (you can sub cashews if necessary, it will just taste less authentic)

• 1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons (105g) water

• 2 tablespoons (30g) fresh lemon juice

• 2-3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes (I highly recommend this Sari brand, it is non-fortified with much better taste.)

• 2 large garlic cloves

• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley

• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (SEE NOTE)

• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

• I use this scale.

INSTRUCTIONS

• Add all of the ingredients to your blender or food processor and blend until very smooth and creamy. I used my Vitamix, but I'm sure any blender or even a food processor would work since pine nuts are a soft nut. If you have a weak blender, I would suggest soaking the cashews (if using) overnight, drain and rinse, so your dressing isn't gritty.

• Place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. It will be perfect for salads then as it gets well chilled and thickens up some.

• I used an Italian salad blend and added some broccoli, pine nuts, extra black pepper and nutritional yeast on top. However, feel free to use whatever greens you like.

NOTE

• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper gives flavour without it tasting like pepper. 1/2 teaspoon will give a peppery taste like I noted in the beginning of the post. I make the peppery version since my take is on the Houston's Restaurant one locally.

NUTRITION

Serving: 2table spoons Calories: 74kcal Carbohydrates: 2.8g Protein: 2.5g Fat: 6.6g Saturated Fat: 0.5g Sodium: 120mg Potassium: 125mg Fiber: 1g Sugar: 0.4g