I Feel Better! (and a vegan creamy salad dressing)

I can’t excitedly say “I… feel… BETTER!” without thinking of Princess Bride (at least I’m pretty sure it was that movie – mom, you will know).

It is amazing what a fresh salad can do for a person. The holidays were great, though I did overindulge a bit (I love red wine, and cheese and crackers go very well with it). So I thought back to the summer when I was eating fresh salads everyday, feeling great, and loving it. So I went to my favorite grocery store (Wegman’s) and bought a ton of organic veggies.

Into my bowl went sliced radish, fennel, alfalfa sprouts, baby spinach, and red leaf lettuce.

For the dressing, I wanted to make something creamy and flavorful. I like a dressing that not only adds flavor, but nutrition too. I usually just throw in what I have on hand, blend and adjust to my liking.

I did my usual 2-for-1 in the food processor (I dislike cleaning it, so I like to make a couple things in succession that don’t require cleaning in between). First, I made my cilantro pesto which is delicious on it’s own as a dressing or dip (radish slices taste great dipped in it!), but I plan to add it to black bean pasta and chopped broccoli later in the week.

Second, I made my salad dressing. After emptying the contents of the food processor bowl (but not cleaning it), I added…

• an avocado
• olive oil
• navy beans
• 2 garlic cloves
• a few sprigs of the fennel bulb tops (why not?)
• the same amount of salt, cayenne pepper, and lemon juice as the cilantro pesto (I often use the pesto recipe as a base for salad dressings – changing up the herbs and adding avocado and or beans and some fresh onion to the mix)
• fresh ground black pepper

Whoops! I almost forgot the onion.

After blending and tasting, it was lacking something (usually I blend in fresh herbs, but didn’t have any today and the fennel tops didn’t cut it). So in went some dijon mustard and more black pepper.

I like that brand above since there’s no added sugar (why do they have to add sugar to mustard?).

Much better!

I added a little water to thin it out a bit so it would be more of a dressing rather than a dip (though I used it for that too).

That wasn’t thin enough for me, so I added a little more. It’s always better to underdo, rather than overdo in the kitchen (too often I have wished there was an undo button!).

Now that’s about right.

How could I not feel better?

Take a deep breath, relax your shoulders away from your ears, and be as tall as you’ve been all day.

Now don’t you feel better too?