Recipe: Make Your Own Salad Dressing!

Bottled, store-bought salad dressing (even “organic” brands) are often made with poor quality oils and preservatives. Making your own salad dressing is easy and so much healthier than buying bottles in the store. And, you can be creative by adjusting the ingredients to your taste!

Basic Salad dressing

Ingredients

1 teaspoon organic dijon mustard

2 Tbsp wine vinegar, raw apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, white vinegar, etc. or lemon juice

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all of these ingredients in a jar and shake it up. Taste. Adjust the ingredients as desired.

Variations:

• Add a drizzle of honey or maple syrup
• Add crumbled goat or blue cheese, or add grated parmigiano cheese
• Add fresh or dried herbs- parsley, cilantro, basil, oregano, dill, etc. Whatever is handy!
• Add a clove of minced garlic or finely chopped green or spring onion
• Add about 1/4 cup of yogurt, buttermilk, sour cream, or creme fraiche for a creamy and tangy dressing.
• Add mashed avocado (this goes especially well with lemon juice)

(adapted from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon)

More Tips for Summer!

Here are more tips to stay cool this summer:

1. Wear lightweight clothing the lighter the colored clothing (white,being ideal) the more sunlight is reflected away from you. Darker colors absorb the light and heat.
2. Sunburn can happen very easily if you are not careful. Dilute one part Tea Tree Oil with ten parts of olive oil or coconut oil and spread freely over the affected areas. This is soothing and pain-relieving and to reduce blistering and peeling.
3. Schedule your outdoor activities to avoid the hottest parts of the day, and use a buddy system if necessary to keep watch on those at high risk.
4. If you feel dizzy and/or stop sweating, quit all activity and get out of the sun fast. Drink cool, not cold water with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in it. The vinegar helps to replace electrolytes and minerals like sports drinks do.
5. Take a cool bath and relax in the water for 15-20 minutes. Try to submerge as much of your body as possible.

Remedies for Heat Exhaustion

The summer heat can sneak up on you (or during the most recent heatwave, just knock you over!). This time of the summer it is common to experience dehydration, sunburn and actual exhaustion! Children under four, people over 65, and those who are overweight, already ill, or taking medications can be especially affected. Symptoms of heat exhaustion can include heavy sweating, paleness, muscle cramps, tiredness, weakness, dizziness headache and nausea or vomiting. The following blog posts will include remedies for heat exhaustion:

1. Carry water with you and sip it throughout the day. Dehydration can set in and we don't even realize it until we begin to feel thirsty! Often by then, it is too late to avoid dehydration's affects on your body.
2. Pace yourself when working outdoors, exercising or just having fun. Those who participate in regular exercise over time, allowing their bodies to adjust to hot conditions, may better tolerate exercise on hot days.
3. Replace salts and minerals with electolytes such as Smart Water or other drinks that have potassium. Avoid drinks with large amounts of sugar. Dehydration can stress the heart and impair the kidneys' ability to maintain the correct level of fluids and balance of electrolyte. Electrolytes are charged elements—like potassium, sodium, phosporous and chloride—essential for the normal function of every cell in the body.

Cold Chrysanthemum Tea

Cold Chrysanthemum Tea (For Quenching Thirst & Mild Sunstroke)

With this heatwave upon us, this is a great recipe to prevent sunstroke and treat dehydration. It also clears Heat, benefits Qi, promotes body fluid secretion and is an excellent thirst quencher! 



Ingredients:

60 - 80 White Chrysanthemum Flowers

3 teaspoon of Jasmine Green Tea

Rock sugar or honey

4 liters of water


Instructions:

1. Wash the chrysanthemum.

2. Put chrysanthemum and tea into a cooking pot.

3. Pour in 4 liters of water and bring it to boiling.

4. Reduce heat and continue to cook for 20 minutes.

5. Put in rock sugar or honey.

6. Remove pot from the heat and allow to cool till room temperature.

7. Strain the tea and put into refrigerator.

8. Serve the tea chilled and enjoy!

From AcuFinder.com

Honey-Balsamic Bean Salad

This is such a great summer recipe. You can use green beans, or substitute for something seasonal, like Romaine lettuce. If you're trying to come up with a substitute for the green beans, imagine ingredients that might go nicely with the honey-balsamic vinegar. And I suspect it goes without saying, but you can certainly play around with the type of beans you use here. I would have used borlotti beans in place of the black beans, but I went with the beans I had on hand, rather than make a trip to the store.

8 oz / 225 g (about 1 1/2 cups) EACH cooked chickpeas, pinto beans, black beans

1 small head of romaine lettuce, washed, dried, shredded

1/3 cup / 1 oz / 30g sliced almonds, toasted

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/2 tablespoons runny honey

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/4+ teaspoon fine grain sea salt

10 sprigs fresh thyme

Combine the beans, lettuce, and most of the almonds in a large salad bowl. Set aside. Make the dressing by whisking the olive oil, honey, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, and sea salt in a small container. Taste, and adjust to your tastes.

Run your fingers up each thyme sprig, removing the leaves. Add to the salad bowl along with a good amount of the dressing. Toss well, and add more dressing if you like. Finish by sprinkling with the remaining almonds.

Serves 4- 6.

Inspired by a recipe in Teaching Dad to Cook Flapjack by Miranda Gardiner (Hardie Grant Books, May, 2010).

From 101cookbooks.com