Spring Green Salad with Honey Dijon Almond Butter Dressing (Gluten-free and Dairy-free with Vegan Option)

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Spring Green Salad with Honey Dijon Almond Butter Dressing (Gluten-free and Dairy-free with Vegan Option)

After creating the big Tutorial Tuesday post last week for How-to Make Nut Butters, I have, as you can imagine, been finding myself needing to get very creative with all of the different nut butters I have in my fridge. A girl can only have so much nut butter on bananas or in her smoothies. I have been having a lot of fun especially, creating savory unexpected recipes with the different nut and seed butters.

Spring Green Salad with Honey Dijon Almond Butter Dressing (Gluten-free and Dairy-free with Vegan Option)

I thought how wonderful a salad dressing made with a creamy nut butter sounded and I got to looking at what I had on hand to get creative with. I have always loved honey dijon dressings and those flavors all match so wonderfully with the almond butter. This dressing is thick, creamy and zingy with a bright freshness from the fresh orange juice (from our own tree, mind you). This dressing has quickly become a favorite around here. I have already made it three times since last week.

I was so insanely proud of myself for coming up with such a creative and unique dressing that I was sure no one had ever made! I was planning on what to call it – should it be “honey dijon almond butter dressing” or “almond butter honey dijon dressing” or maybe just “almond honey mustard dressing”. I turned to Google Trends for a look see on what words are more popular for searching and ultimately it was all about the same. I ended up then Googling to see if anyone had done something similar, and blammo  – I am not nearly as creative as I thought. Someone had already done something similar – wah wah! Guess I am not so creative, after all. It’s actually kinda crazy how often this happens in the food blogging world, it is kind of amazing. At any rate, I guess great minds think a like, right?

Spring Green Salad with Honey Dijon Almond Butter Dressing (Gluten-free and Dairy-free with Vegan Option)

I don’t know about you guys, but once spring hits – I seriously find myself craving anything and everything green! I want to gobble up every spring lettuce and baby green that I can get my hands on. I have been living on big green salads as of late. I actually had salad for breakfast yesterday. Weird, I know – right? I really and truly find myself feeling so much better when I am getting more fresh, raw greens, it’s like an energy boost better than any caffeine drink on the market. This Spring Green Salad is a beautiful celebration of everything that is in season right now, so feel free to get creative with what is in season near you.

Spring Green Salad with Honey Dijon Almond Butter Dressing (Gluten-free and Dairy-free with Vegan Option)

[print_this]Spring Green Salad with Honey Dijon Almond Butter Dressing – Gluten-free and Dairy-free with Vegan Option
serves 2 to 4 (depending on if it’s being served as a side or a main)

Honey Dijon Almond Butter Dressing

  • 1/4 cup unsweetened almond butter (I used homemade)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 small shallot, very finely minced – about 1 tablespoon
  • 1 tablespoon whole grain dijon mustard
  • 1/3 cup fresh orange juice (1 orange)
  • 1 teaspoon orange zest
  • 3 teaspoons honey (or maple syrup)
  • 1/4 teaspoon teaspoon sea salt
  • freshly ground pepper

Add all of these ingredients to a medium sized bowl. With a fork or a whisk, mix up the dressing very well, until smooth and creamy. This can also be made in a blender if you’d like, but I am too lazy to pull it out for dressings.

 

Spring Green Salad

  • 4 cups mixed baby spring greens – I used a blend of baby lettuces, baby spinach, baby chard, mizuna, frisee, radicchio and arugula*
  • 1 large handful organic pea shoots
  • 3 thick stalks of asparagus, peeled into ribbons (with a vegetable peeler)
  • 1 small bunch of fresh chives, thinly chopped

Add the greens and pea shoots to a large bowl and mix well to incorporate. Top with the asparagus rubbons and fresh chives. Drizzle with the Honey Dijon Almond Butter dressing (recipe above). Serve immediately.

*feel free to use whatever greens you like and what’s in season near you right now.  [/print_this]

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5 Responses

  1. Beautiful pictures!!

  2. “I seriously find myself craving anything and everything green! I want to gobble up every spring lettuce and baby green that I can get my hands on. I have been living on big green salads as of late. I actually had salad for breakfast yesterday. Weird, I know – right?”

    Me too! And I don’t think eating salad for breakfast is weird at all. Different, but not weird 🙂

    This salad looks lovely, & I always love a new dressing recipe! I usually get stuck in a dressing rut of just using balsamic vinegar + a little flax or olive oil. Nice, but it’s so fun to kick things up a notch with just the right kind of dressing.

  3. Haha That’s happened to me once or twice, I thought for sure I had created something new, but someone else had thought of it already. lol
    I make a very similar salad dressing, but I hadn’t tried adding raw almond butter in it! Sounds like a great addition! I’ll make sure to try this really soon.

  4. jill conyers says:

    I shared this today in my salad roundup post! The ingredients are on my grocery list 🙂

  5. B. Davis says:

    Hi there! Do you have any idea how many calories per serving is the dressing ?

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