Two quick recipes to whip up. I still have an attitude for buying salad dressings. I don’t because they all taste the same and very few of them use a good olive oil; olive oil, which is important for our health!
Peanut Dressing
For this recipe use the natural peanut butter or any kind of nut butter or seed butter you like. It calls for agave syrup, which is fine, but I used maple syrup. It is local!
This dressing is in two parts. Both are simple to make. You can do this two ways: The first way is make a single batch of peanut dressing and add the exact amount of the sesame syrup or add all of the syrup, which makes the dressing a bit sweeter. The second way is double the peanut butter or nut butter and oil then add all of the single sesame syrup recipe. This will make the dressing less sweet. Both work.
SWEET SESAME SYRUP:
3/4 cup agave syrup or maple syrup
1/2 cup organic apple cider vinegar
3 Tbsp tamari
If you are going to use the agave heat it with the vinegar until both are well
blended.
If you are going to use the maple syrup just whisk all the ingredients together and set aside.
PEANUT DRESSING:
1 cup natural peanut butter or your
choice
3/4 cup Sweet Sesame Syrup *note
from above
3/4 cup sunflower oil or olive oil
In a blender, combine the peanut butter and Sweet Sesame Syrup. Blend until smooth, 15 to 20 seconds. With the blender running on low speed, slowly drizzle in the oil until the dressing is emulsified and thickened, about 30 seconds. This dressing will keep in the fridge for up to seven days.
*I really like to use this dressing on a cabbage salad. The quickest is to thinly slice part of either a head cabbage or Nappa and then add a package of Power Green Blend (mixture of sliced Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, broccoli, carrot and kale).
Ginger Garlic Noodle Soup with Bok Choy
This soup takes about 30 minutes to make. You can change it by adding chicken or other veggies if you like. Star anise is one of my favourite spices to use, it is a required taste but it is the extra flavour that will help make the soup delicious.
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion diced
5 cloves garlic minced
1 bunch green onions chopped, green
and white divided
3 Tbsp fresh ginger minced or grated or
pureed with a little water
6 cups chicken or vegetable broth or
water
2 whole star anise
2 Tbsp soy sauce or Tamari
10 oz crimini mushrooms sliced
6 oz rice noodles
2 small heads Bok Choy roughly chopped
Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized stockpot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook at least 10 minutes until the onion is soft. Stir often and watch they don’t burn.
Add the garlic, chopped white parts from the green onions and the ginger. Cook for about 2 minutes.
Add the stock or water to the pot and bring to a simmer. Add the star anise and soy sauce. Cover and simmer for another 10 minutes. Remove and discard the star anise from the soup.
Add the sliced mushrooms, uncooked noodles and bok choy to the pot. Simmer another 8 minutes until the noodles and bok choy are tender.
Season to taste with salt, pepper and hot sauce.
Add the chopped green from the green onions and serve the soup.
