Avocado Cilantro Dressing

It seems that I may be temporarily sticking to a theme, and that theme is salad dressing. To be fair, we do grow & eat a copious amount of salad mix here, so that seems like a natural addition to the repertoire. If you’re like me & haven’t used cilantro much outside of garnish, this recipe might just be perfect for you! It’s creamy, the perfect balance of lime & cilantro, and a welcome change to the tahini dressing we’ve been consuming in vast quantities! Try it out and let me know what you think!

Original recipe inspiration is sourced directly from here so be sure to check that out! Otherwise, carry on, details are below:

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 avocado (about 6 tablespoons)

• 3 tablespoons lime juice

• 3/4 cup water

• 1 tablespoon olive oil (optional)

• 1 cup fresh cilantro, loosely packed

• 1 clove garlic , minced

• 1 teaspoon maple syrup - I used 1/2 teaspoon agave since that was all I had available

• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

• black pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

• Combine all of the ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. Adjust any seasoning to taste, then store it in the fridge until ready to use.

• Leftover dressing can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge

Creamy Arugula Soup

Arugula

I recently had arugula in an incredible soup (recipe below), and that may just be my new favorite way to enjoy it. With a veggie this good, it’s hard to narrow it down! 

Have you ever grown this delicious green? If not, have you ever swung by the Farmers’ Market to get some and ask the grower how they do it? If you haven’t asked them about arugula, have you grown or asked others how they grow any of their crops? Ok, I definitely just threw too many questions out there at once. I tend to get fired up about growing food, it’s what I do and what I love so I’m always curious how often other people think about these things too! 

For our market garden, growing arugula is one of the most rewarding greens we’ve sown. We’ve felt lucky that for us, it tends to always germinate well, grow quickly, taste awesome, appear healthy and happy and sell well. I guess you could say it’s the complete package.

Not surprisingly, we aren’t the only ones who love arugula. As it turns out, some bugs do too, so after we seed, we protect the crop with row cover to prevent any damage. Sure, it’s a fair bit of extra physical labor to make sure the arugula looks flawless, but totally worth it. We’ll also grow a couple of beds at a time to make sure we have enough for everyone, planting successions every few weeks to try to be able to keep up a constant harvest. Since these plants love cool weather, and tend to bolt faster when it’s warm, we group our plantings of arugula toward the beginning and the end of the growing season to take advantage of the lower temperatures. Arugula grows quickly, so it usually doesn’t take more than one or two well timed weedings to make it through to harvest.

When it’s all said and done, arugula is quick to grow from seed to harvest, versatile to cook with or enjoy raw, epically yummy (I mean, who doesn’t love a mildly peppery green?!) and it’s popular at market! I’d love to know what you think of the recipe posted below, and of the Vegetablog too! What would you like to hear more about? Please leave comments, answers to the questions I asked above, or critiques in the comment section below. I would love to hear from you!

Without further ado, here is the creamy arugula soup recipe we made and really loved. Hope you do too!

Creamy Arugula Soup

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The original recipe inspiration used to craft up this soup remains almost exactly as it does in the original. However, we used about half the amount of coconut milk & included that change in the list below. Check out the original recipe at the following link: https://detoxinista.com/creamy-vegan-arugula-soup/

So, here are the details you need to know:

Creamy Arugula Soup
Serves about 4, depending on hunger levels

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound potatoes, chopped into 1 inch chunks
4 cups water or vegetable broth
1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
3 cups fresh arugula
1/4 cup coconut milk
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat, and sauté the onion and celery until tender, about 8 minutes. Add in the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about one more minute. Add in the chopped potatoes, 4 cups of water or broth, and salt and bring the liquid to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat and cover to let the vegetables simmer until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 20 minutes.

Once the potatoes are tender, add the arugula to the pot and stir until bright green, about 3 minutes. Transfer the soup to a blender and blend until smooth, taking special care to vent the blender lid. (I like to lightly cover the hole in the center of the lid with a thin dish towel so that the lid doesn’t blow off from the steam pressure.) Blend in batches if you need to.

Return the soup to the pot over medium heat and stir in the coconut milk. Season with additional salt, if desired, and black pepper and serve warm with any garnishes you like. I added an extra dollop of coconut cream (the thick cream found in a chilled can of coconut milk) and some chopped green onions.

*Moments before serving, we topped this gorgeous soup with fresh arugula for an extra pop of flavor and texture.*