Balanced Friends
- Jun 4, 2020
- 3 min read

Strawberry Vinaigrette Dressing

Updated: Oct 22, 2020

As summer is upon us, we have been craving all the fresh foods and salads! Unfortunately so many dressings contain harmful oils, preservatives, artificial colors and flavors, sugar, and more. All these additives have been linked to negative health issues and causes inflammation in the body. We always recommend keeping inflammation in the body to a minimum. There are a few prepackaged dressings we recommend but overall recommend making your own salad dressing at home that you can consume most of the time. Making your own dressing is easy, affordable, and so much better for your overall health!

Like mentioned above, prepackaged dressings contain harmful oils that contribute to inflammation in the body which can cause chronic diseases. Reading labels is so important! Oils to avoid while reading labels include soybean, canola, corn, safflower, sunflower, vegetable or anything that says “hydrogenated”. You will be shocked at how many food packages contain at least one of these oils!

What about when you go out to eat?! Some of the harmful ingredients mentioned above are going to be unavoidable because they are used so often. So when you eat out, you have the choice to go ahead and treat yourself and eat the dressing knowing that you avoid inflammatory ingredients most of the time (hello balance!). If you don't want to waste a treat meal on inflammatory dressing, or if you like to eat out often, ask for olive oil and balsamic vinegar (or lemon slices to squeeze over the salad). Most restaurants have this as an option which gives you a little more control over what you put in your body. You can ask for the dressing to be on the side so that you can add as much or as little as you want. We have found both of these tips helpful when dining out. We want you to have some helpful tools to use while eating out so that you can always make a choice that feels good for you in the moment. But we hope you use the recipe below to motivate you to start making your own dressings most of the time to create a better balance. We have always been told that salad is healthy but it's not so healthy anymore when we coat it in junkie dressings!

Hope this blog posts not only leaves you with a yummy recipe but also knowledge about inflammatory oils, and empowers you to create a balance around food that suits you! It's up to you to create the balance that works for you and your body. Balance looks different for everyone and that's OK! It's how it should be. If you need help creating a balance around food that works for you and your body, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at Balanced Friends! It's kinda our thing!! We are all about balance and here to prove that eating healthy isn't restrictive, counting calories, or falling victim to any fad (one size fits all) diet. We got you covered friend! Hope you love this strawberry vinaigrette as much as we do.

Ingredients

•2 tbsp Raw Local Honey

•2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

•4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

•1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

•4-5 Strawberries (hulled)

• Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Directions

Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Add more of ingredients to taste! Yes it's that EASY! Store extras in a jar in the fridge. Also note that all recipes we post should be made with organic foods whenever possible to help avoid harmful toxins.

Here are some of our favorite kitchen gadgets that you may find useful for this recipe!

Ninja Food Processor This is the exact Ninja blender we have both used for several years for smoothies, chopping onion, making dressings, homemade salsa and more!

Glass Storage Jar for your Homemade Dressings!

Strawberry Hauler

Organic Olive Oil

Raw Honey - This is our all time favorite honey that we purchase through a store vs at a farmers market!

Apple Cider Vinegar (with the mother and organic is ideal)

Sea Salt - Full of minerals to help our bodies maintain healthy mineral levels.