Vegan Cherry Walnut Salad Dressing

Traverse City, Michigan is the home of the best cherries in the world. I love cherries, and I decided to incorporate them in a delicious creamy dressing. I bought a giant bag of organic cherries recently at the market. Despite the effort of pitting the cherries, the taste and flavor of fresh cherries is worth the effort. Add that to some different vinegars and a small amount of walnuts, and the result is euphoric.

Although I love Dr. Joel Furhman’s Walnut Vinaigrette dressing, I don’t like raisins.  I made my own version with fresh cherries instead of raisins and added a few more goodies.

For those of you familiar with Dr. Joel Furhman’s Eat to Live plan, his famous Walnut Vinaigrette is not only available online, but it is also available for purchase. Although I have made his wonderful dressing, I wanted to use fresh fruit and add some other ingredients to see if it would taste any better. So, although this dressing is my own, his dressing is my inspiration for this dressing.

I used two different kinds of vinegar; dark balsamic and red wine vinegar. The diverse flavor of the two vinegars together compliment the sweetness of the cherries. The walnuts make the creamy base without having to add vegan mayo or tofu. The amount of nuts, per serving is slight, so the dressing is low in fat.

I love this dressing. You may even want to play with different vinegars and fruits. I know I will, and I will let you know if I come up with another great combination.

Vegan Cherry Walnut Salad Dressing

This savory dressing is wonderful on any kind of salad. I prefer it on a salad with fresh fruit, but it enhances the flavor of all vegetables. It also is a great dip.

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Ingredients

• 1/2 cup, pitted and sliced in half Fresh Cherries
• 1/2 cup Walnuts
• 1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
• 1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar
• 3/4 cup Water
• 1 small, peeled Shallot
• 1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 1 teaspoon fresh Thyme
• 2 teaspoons Pure Maple Syrup or 2 dates if you want to make a raw dressing

Instructions

BLEND INGREDIENTS

Note: *2 dates instead of the maple syrup if 100% raw.

• Place all ingredients in a high speed blender.
• Blend until smooth.
• Transfer to an airtight container.
• I used a ball jar.
• Will last in the refrigerator for 7 days (It won't last that long)

Did you make this recipe?

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