Garden-To-Table Recipe: Cilantro Lime Dressing with at Twist!🌿

🌿 Cilantro, The Universal Ingredient

I recently harvested some cilantro that has been overwintering in one of our raised beds, since the weather has been warming up. Cilantro is one of those cool weather loving herbs that will begin to bolt, or go to flower, which will then go to seed if the weather gets too warm outside.

Our family enjoys cilantro when making guacamole as a dip for chips or tacos, as a garnish over our Asian inspired dishes, or even our Indian inspired dishes. This time I decided to use the cilantro for one of my favorite salad vinaigrette dressings since we weren't making any of these other inspired dishes. According to an article from Eating Well, vinaigrette dressing will last up to three days when made from fresh herbs, vinegar, and citrus.

🌿 A Sweetener Alternative

My weakness is sweets. I love me a good dessert or sweet treat. As I'm getting older, I'm trying to be more cautious about how much added sugars certain dishes, treats, or sweeteners contain, as my family is predisposed to diabetes. A way to mitigate this is by finding healthy alternatives to sweeteners.

I stumbled across date sugar as a healthier alternative, as it has a lower glycemic index than other sweeteners, which means that they are a more nutritious option for individuals with diabetes because they will not cause high spikes in blood sugar. Healthline outlines some health benefits of dates for people with diabetes.

🌿 Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette Recipe

There are multiple cilantro lime vinaigrette recipes around, but this is one I found and tweaked based on the amount of cilantro I had harvested, vinaigrette that I needed, and sweetener that I added to make it taste sweeter. You can adjust any of these ingredients based on your taste buds in what you prefer.

Ingredients:

1 cup of Cilantro

1/4 fresh squeezed lime juice

2 1/2 TBSP Date Sugar

1/3 Olive Oil

1/3 Cup of Avocado or Olive Oil

1 Garlic Clove

1/4 White Wine Vinegar

Dash of Salt & Pepper

Dash of Cumin

Instructions:

1. Remove the leaves from cilantro after you rinse and strain water from them. Remove husk from garlic clove.

2. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

3. Pour salad dressing over salad.

Other Sweetener Alternatives

I hope you enjoy this healthier version of this salad dressing, as some recipes call for honey or maple syrup for the sweetener. Date sugar just happens to have a lower glycemic index and it's vegan friendly.

Let me know what you think and how you adjust the recipe to your liking!

🌿 Happy Gardening!