Farmer's Market Salad with Better-Than-Kraft Raspberry Vinaigrette

Water, Sugar, Vegetable Oil (Soybean Oil, Canola Oil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil), Red Wine Vinegar, Vinegar, Contains Less Than 2% of Salt, Red Raspberry Juice Concentrate, Xanthan Gum, Citric Acid, Dried Onions, Spice, Poppy Seeds, Natural Flavor, Oleoresin Paprika, Potassium Sorbate And Calcium Disodium Edta (to Protect Freshness). Contains: Poppy Seed.

Those are the ingredients in a bottle of Kraft’s Lite Raspberry Vinaigrette.

Tasty, huh?

Most salad dressings we buy in the store contain lots of preservatives and chemicals, and as you can see above, very little (less than 2% each!) of real, whole food ingredients we’d expect to see in a salad dressing.

What’s most shocking?

Kraft’s raspberry vinaigrette doesn’t even contain raspberries!

Now there’s a head scratcher.

Homemade salad dressings are one of the easiest upgrades you can make to your diet. They take very little time to make and, in most cases, require either a whisk or a blender to mix everything together.

That’s why I wanted to try a recipe for a homemade raspberry vinaigrette that tastes 100 times better than the bottled stuff…and actually contains raspberries! 🙂

I served it on top of a summer salad, whose recipe is below, but feel free to put it on any salad you like.

The dressing is inspired by this recipe, but I made several tweaks.

Farmer’s Market Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette

Dressing

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup raw apple cider vinegar (Bragg’s is the brand we use! Make sure it contains “The Mother”)
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons honey (I used raw honey)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 2/3 cup raspberries, fresh or frozen, thawed
• 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salad (All veggies are ideally organic! Check out this post for how to save money on organic food.)

• 1 head of lettuce of your choice or 6-8 cups of salad greens
• 2 peaches, thinly sliced
• 2 avocados, pitted, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
• 1/3 cup sliced almond, toasted
• Optional: 1/4 cup fresh basil, thinly sliced into thin ribbons

Directions

1. Combine all dressing ingredients in a blender for 30-60 seconds and liquify. If you have a Vitamix, follow these directions.
2. Assemble salad and toss ingredients together, leaving almonds aside.
3. Drizzle dressing on salad and sprinkle almonds on top. Toss to combine.
4. Optional: Top salad with chicken or fish, or serve with a side of soup!