Saturday, January 16, 2010

Creamy Red Pepper Dressing


To go with our Italian lentil stew this evening I made a big green salad. Because the stew was so low in fat I decided to make a raw cashew dressing so that our bodies were able to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins.

This particular dressing was an experiment of sorts. I typically use water in my raw cashew dressings but since lemon juice and zest worked well in place of water the last time I decided to use a raw vegetable tonight. Red bell pepper made this dressing a little sweet. My husband thought it tasted a little like French dressing, which I guess it did. We all enjoyed this dressing so I will be making future appearances on my dining table. Here is the dressing I made tonight.

Creamy Red Pepper Dressing
Makes just under a cup – approximately 15 tablespoons

Ingredients:

½ cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 30 minutes and then drained
1 red pepper, seeded
1 tablespoon Chianti vinegar (or any red wine vinegar)
1 pinch salt
1 pinch pepper

Directions:

Toss all the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. The dressing will thicken in the refrigerator.

Nutritional Information (per tablespoon):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 20.84
Calories From Fat (57%) - 11.9

Total Fat - 1.42g
Saturated Fat - 0.25g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium 20.25mg
Potassium - 42.38mg
Total Carbohydrates - 1.58g
Fiber - 0.32g
Sugar - 0.59g
Protein - 0.68g

Comment:

This dressing would also make a great dip for raw crudités if you were looking for something different to pack in your lunch. It is nice and creamy, but also sweet and a little tangy. We thought it had a nice balanced taste.

Unrelated note:

Dan and I are going to watch a movie tonight so I don’t think I will be posting anything more this evening. Don’t forget about the Healthy Cooking Challenge.

I will talk to you all again tomorrow. There is still one more recipe from the Ad Hoc cooking extravaganza to post on the other site, which I hope to get up tomorrow sometime.

11 comments:

  1. Ah, interesting. Sounds really tasty. Just bought some more cashews today too.

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  2. Sounds delicious! I love anything with that red bell pepper flavor!

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  3. Heather,

    I really like raw cashew based dressings. When you want something with a nice creamy base they work great. I hope you enjoy this too.

    Anna,

    Thanks! I really like red bell peppers too. And they are such a great source of vitamin C.

    I hope you both have a great evening,
    Alicia

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  4. That looks and sounds seriously yummy.
    Happy New Year by the way (I know I'm late but I'm still playing catch-up)
    :)

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  5. Jeni,

    Happy New Year to you too! I hope you had a great holiday.

    This dressing did turn out really well and it was so quick. I love having recipes like that for those days when I don't feel like cooking.

    Alicia

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  6. What a great idea -- this looks delicious.

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  7. Beatrice,

    The raw red bell pepper did work out well in the dressing. The final dressing tasted oddly like French, which was not what I was going for initially.

    Alicia

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  8. This dressing looks and sounds so delicious. I love French dressing so I should give this recipe a try, can't wait!

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  9. Oraphan,

    This dressing was a big surprise for me. I don't exactly know what I was expecting but it turned out really well, just very different from what I anticipated. I hope you like it too.

    Alicia

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  10. I added a few cloves of garlic and some sweeter (kikkoman) soy sauce and it worked very nicely. Great idea on the cashews, though; they are a very healthy alternative to oil and they give a great texture once they're well-processed

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  11. Karach,

    I can see how the garlic would be good here. My version doesn't contain sodium or sweetener because we gave have all but eliminated those (along with the oil) for health reasons. However before that I would have done the same thing. ;-)

    Ali

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