Monday, December 28, 2009

Green Salad with Berries and Nuts in a Citrus Cashew Dressing



This is another one of the backlog recipes I have been remiss in posting. We like green salad with fruit and nuts and that is the origin of this salad. I decided to try making a cashew dressing using citrus in place and water and liked the results. If you want to make the dressing after work you can soak the cashews in water in the refrigerator and drain them when you get home. Sometimes we keep cashews soaking in the refrigerator for a day or two for just this reason. Sliced almonds were added for a little crunch but they do add additional fat and calories. Here is the salad I have made the last few days at our house.

Green Salad with Berries and Nuts in a Citrus Cashew Dressing
Serves 4

Ingredients:

¼ cup raw cashews (soaked for at least an hour and then drained)
1 tangerine, peeled and seeded (or ½ orange)
12 cups mesclun greens
½ cup fresh blueberries
½ cup fresh blackberries
2 tablespoons sliced almonds

Directions:

Place the raw cashews and tangerine in your blender or food processor and process until smooth. Soaking the cashews results in a smoother dressing. The dressing will also be smoother if you use a blender versus a food processor.

Toss the greens with the dressing and top with the berries and nuts and serve.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 109.8
Calories From Fat (40%) - 44.44

Total Fat - 5.32g
Saturated Fat - 0.65g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 16.73mg
Potassium - 420.59mg
Total Carbohydrates - 13.61g
Fiber - 4.84g
Sugar - 5.84g
Protein - 4.3g

Comments:

This salad is refreshing and low in calories for the volume of food. Each serving of this salad contains approximately 750IU of vitamin A, 70mg of vitamin C, 60mg of calcium, 105mcg of folate, and 70mg of phosphorus. Not too bad for a little over a 100 calories of food.

We have made this same salad the last few days and everyone enjoyed it. Now that I have used fruit juice in place of water in the raw cashew dressing I will be exploring that idea more in the future.

Unrelated note:

I have spent most of my time doing “life administration” today. I hope to get another recipe posted tonight. Be back later.

10 comments:

  1. I really need to get some cashews and try this dressing.

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  2. The salad looks really good, I love berries in salad too.

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  3. Heather,

    The raw cashew salad dressings are something that I started making this year. They are rich and creamy without processed fat (oil). We have been trying to reduce our intake of oil this year. Raw nuts have more phytonutrients than oils.

    Alicia

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  4. Rose,

    Thanks! Once I gave up cheese I starting make more green salads with fruit. Don't actually know why, but there seemed to be a connection to the lack of cheese. I need to get my behind in gear and make some of the fermented cheese in The Conscious Cook.

    Alicia

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  5. Oh yes, that's a very exciting idea...I must try to get around to that this weekend too.

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  6. Rose,

    I was most intrigued by the "goat cheese". Did one of the cheeses stand out to you?

    Alicia

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  7. I love the idea of adding berries, I love salads with fruit.

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  8. Oh! this salad looks so good, it's really my kind of food. It sound so healthy and delicious. You didn't even need salt & pepper, did you?

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  9. Oraphan,

    We try to eat two salads a day at our house for health reasons. I make variations of this (fruit and nut) most days. I didn't use salt any pepper on this, but that is partly because we have been trying to reduce our sodium intake. Since we have reduced our sodium intake we don't find that we need to add it to food as often.

    Glad you liked the sound of the salad.

    Alicia

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