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Please excuse the lack of photos in some of my older posts as I am trying to slowly go back through and add the photos that were accidentally deleted

October 17, 2011

October's Secret Recipe Club - Avocado Dressing, and Balsamic Vinaigrette

Here's to another month of The Secret Recipe Club! This is my fourth time participating... my first month I brought you some tasty Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Avocado Bacon Dressing. In August, I opted for a dessert... Chocolate Chip Pecan Blondies. And for September, another dessert, and my first time making Molten Lava Cakes. All fantastic picks!

This month, I was assigned the wonderful blog, Get Healthy with Heather... which I so need to do lol! It was fun perusing over her healthy recipes. I was intrigued by her vegan recipes, and many recipes that called for recipes that I'd never heard of before. I finally decided on two dressing recipes, because I like the idea of making my own dressing and controlling what ingredients are going into it. I chose her Avocado Dressing, and her Balsamic Vinaigrette.


I'm obsessed with avocados, and PJ is too, so we both enjoyed the avocado dressing. I decided to add a dash or two of hot sauce to cut the tartness. It added just a hint of spicy that we both liked. And we were nervous about using raw garlic in the dressing at first, but after a quick google search I felt comfortable knowing that eating pureed raw garlic is perfectly fine  :)  

























This avocado dressing works great as an actual salad dressing, as a dip, or a spread on any sandwich or taco/burrito.
















Avocado Dressing
slightly adapted from Get Healthy with Heather
  • 1 avocado
  • 1.5 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 small cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • a dash or two of hot sauce
Combine all ingredients in a blender and whirl until smooth. 

Printable Recipe



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The balsamic vinaigrette was tasty as well. I could always use more onions though, that's just me. Next time I'd maybe up the red onion amount to, say, two tablespoons instead of one, which I reflected in the recipe below. We also added a pinch or two of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

























Balsamic Vinaigrette
ever so slightly adapted from Get Healthy with Heather
  •  1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2.5 tbsp dijon mustard
  • 2 tbsp red onion, minced
  • pinch or two of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a bottle. Shake until combined.

Printable Recipe
 

























So yay for more dressings to add to the repertoire! And once again, it was so much fun being in The Secret Recipe Club this month, as well as getting to know Heather through her wonderful blog :) Hopefully some of her healthy habits have worn off on me!




Peace, and bacon grease!


26 comments:

Gloria Baker said...

Look delicious, I love avocados I made an Avocado Ice cream last month and was delicious!! gloria

Melanie said...

Avocado dressing! Why hadn't I thought of that before?? I've also been looking for a balsamic recipe so your post is great for me!

Jeanette said...

I love avocados and homemade dressing is the best!

Unknown said...

Living in San Diego I am an Acocado addict, bring it on!

4Sisters said...

Love both of these! Making your own dressing is so easy and much healthier than the store bought version. Great SRC post!

Becca @ Crumbs and Chaos

Patricia @ ButterYum said...

Buy one recipe, get one free - love it! Great SRC picks! Hope you'll stop by and see my reveal.

:)
ButterYum

Fit Mama Real Food said...

I'm so glad you brought the avocado dressing out from hiding! It's been too long since I made it. Great idea to add a dash of hot sauce... It'd have to be an itty bitty dash for me... I can't take the heat!

Hope you have a wonderful day :)

Miz Helen said...

What a great dressing, I can't wait to make it! Thanks for sharing and it is fun cooking with you in the SRC!
Miz Helen
Southwest Chicken and Potato Soup

Andi said...

I love avacodo's so sure I would enjoy this. nice pictures andi

Faith said...

i so want to make this! sounds so good! thanks for sharing yet another great one!!!

Jamie said...

That avocado dressing is such a smart idea - avocados are my favorite!

I'm in Group C - check out my blog when the time comes!
www.cookinwithmoxie.com

Trisha said...

Both the dressings sound yummy, but I've simply got to try the avocado one. I love spicy food so I may just have to add a little more heat to it.

Desi said...

@ Melanie - Anything with avocados is a keeper for me! Let me know if you like the balsamic and/or how you would improve it... I never really use balsamic dressing so I'm not sure how it's supposed to taste or what to compare it to lol

@ Jeanette - Homemade anything is always better :)

@ Jennifurla - I bet the weather is pretty nice there in CA! Glad you share my love of avocados!

@ ButterYum - Ha I like the sound of that! I still have to make my SRC rounds but will definitely check out your post!

@ Heather - It was so fun checking out your blog and secretly stalking you! Great salad dressings you've got there :)

@ Jamie - Heather is a smart one for thinking up the idea to make avocado into dressing. I'll definitely stop by and see your post next Monday.

@ Trisha - Definitely.... add hot sauce to your likings. Hope you like it!

Cooking Rookie said...

Wonderful dressing, it must be so refreshing! And the phoots are so colorful and joyful :-). Great pick for SRC!

gluten Free A_Z Blog said...

We eat a ton of salad, and I love having new homemade dressing recipes. These look terrific.

Unknown said...

Love the avocado dressing. I adore avocado's and I would put that dressing on everything! Great choices for SRC!

Desi said...

@ Cooking Rookie - love your name, btw :) I'm glad you liked the bright colors!!

@ Judee - I need to eat more salad!! I hope you like the dressings if you try them :)

Lisa~~ said...

Both dressings look and sound wonderful but I hear the avocado one calling my name.

If you haven't already, I'd love for you to check out my group "A" SRC recipe this month: Levain Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies.

Lisa~~
Cook Lisa Cook

Kristen said...

I love avocados, too. That dressing sounds so delicious...actually both sound great. I need more salads in my life!

Reeni said...

Your dressing look wonderful! Especially the avocado one! I could eat it up with just a spoon.

Anonymous said...

Wow this dressing is fantastic! Sort of like a Green Goddess dressing in appearance, but using avocado is brilliant! Love the balsamic viniagrette one too, but the avocado is calling to me. Great SRC choice!

Desi said...

@ lisamichele - Thanks! I just saw a Green Goddess dressing on another blog... it's also delish but I love that this uses avocado. I'll take any excuse to use avocado!! :)

Tina @ MOMS CRAZY COOKING said...

This looks delish..... I wish I had some! All these foods make me hungry!

Thank you for being a part of Secret Recipe Club, I really enjoy this group and being your hostesss. My recipe for this month was Frozen Breakfaast Burritos, even though I made these a few weeks ago for Monday’s post, I just made a second batch today!

If you haven’t checked them out yet, please stop by!
http://momscrazycooking.blogspot.com/2011/10/frozen-breakfast-burritos-secret-recipe.html

Chris said...

Both of these are great but the avocado dressing is my favorite because it can double as a dipping sauce for things like fried asparagus.

PERMANENT POSIES said...

Wow! Two for the price of one! Stopping by from SRC. Yummy recipes! I will go check out your Secret Blogger too.

Chelle B said...

These dressings sound so delicious. Great SRC pick.