This easy raw green salsa came together in no time thanks to my blender. I buy salsa all the time, but I never realized how easily it could be made. When you make it fresh it tastes way better and it’s simple to make a huge portion for a large group of people if you are entertaining.

This green salsa is mild and subtle enough to be served with shrimp or fish. Feel free to play around with the ingredients, if you prefer more garlic or heat. I actually think this tastes better the next day, once the flavors have had a chance to really marinate together.

Here are a couple ways I love using salsa:

1) I regularly use salsa as a chili base. For ground beef I prefer to use red salsas, but for chicken or turkey, a green salsa would be delicious.

2) My husband and I love breakfast food, especially eggs. Salsa makes a perfect topping to a Mexican breakfast and is a great addition to brunch.

3) Taco salad is a regular weeknight meal at our house and we always use salsa instead of salad dressing.

4) I’ve pressure cooked chicken with salsa in my instant pot, and been very happy with the results.

5) Whole foods has some grain free chip options. So if you have a craving for chips and salsa, feel free to indulge a little.

Really the possibilities are endless. What is your favorite way to use salsa?

Easy Raw Green Salsa

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Total time

10 mins

 

Author: Lauren Bolanos

Ingredients

• 2 green tomatoes chopped
• 1 avocado
• ½ jalapeno without seeds
• 1 cup chopped white onion
• ½ cup water
• 4 limes juiced
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 2 medium garlic cloves pressed

Instructions

1. Add all ingredients to your blender.
2. Then blend until desired texture.

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This vegan pea pesto is the perfect condiment for spring time. It’s really easy to make and tastes delicious, even on it’s own. You can also use it as a dip with carrots, for some Easter entertaining. I bet it would also taste delicious with some zoodles or over some grain free toast. Check out my recipe for paleo bread, if you want this over toast with a fried egg on top. Yum! I’ll have to post that later 🙂

Big thank you  to Chris, for letting me sample your pea pesto. You were definitely the inspiration for this recipe. I ate your pea pesto with eggs scrambled with sauteed spinach and it was crazy good.

Vegan Pea Pesto

 

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Prep time

3 mins

Cook time

5 mins

Total time

8 mins

 

Author: Lauren Bolanos

Serves: 2 cups

Ingredients

• 2 cups of fresh steamed peas (1 bag of fresh peas from trader joes)
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• 3 tbsp pine nuts
• 1 pressed clove of garlic
• ⅓ cup of extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

1. Steam fresh peas for 2-3 minutes and transfer to an ice bath.
2. Drain peas, then transfer to a food processor.
3. In the food processor, add sea slat, pine nuts, pressed clove of garlic, and olive oil and pulse until desired consistency.

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This recipe is very near and dear to my heart. My mom used to make this every time she cooked dinner, which was often, so we had a side salad with our meal. It’s a very garlicy Italian dressing, that depending on the balsamic vinegar you use, can also taste pretty sweet. She also used a tsp of sugar in her recipe, but I substituted honey. The balsamic vinegar and honey give this recipe a nice sweet and sour flavor, and the garlic adds a spicy note.

In this photo, I’m using this dressing as a marinade for some veggies for an antipasto salad I’m making for dinner. I chopped up some roasted red peppers, peppadews, green and black olives, and artichoke hearts and I’m going to let all the flavors develop before I assemble the salad with the remaining ingredients: wild arugala, salami, and prosciutto. Here is the full recipe for the antipasto salad as promised.

Mom's Salad Dressing

 

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Prep time

2 mins

Cook time

2 mins

Total time

4 mins

 

Author: Lauren Bolanos

Serves: ¾ cup dressing

Ingredients

• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp dried basil
• 2 large cloves of garlic, pressed (use 3 if on the smaller side)

Instructions

1. Mix ingredients together in a jar with lid.
2. With the lid on, shake then serve over your favorite Italian salad.

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Although Lemon Garlic Aioli might sound intimidating to make, it is actually pretty easy. If you’ve ever made mayo, it’s a similar process to achieve the emulsification and that desirable creamy texture. I used the same oil base as my favorite coconut oil mayo, which is half a cup of extra virgin olive oil and half a cup of coconut oil. You could honestly do it with any oil, but these are my favorite paleo oils for health reasons. You don’t really taste the coconut flavor either, since the lemon and garlic easily overpower it.

The strong lemon flavor will taste delicious with any kind of seafood, although it could be eaten with anything. Lemon and garlic are flavors that are pretty common across a lot of different cuisines, and I know they are staples in my pantry. Seriously, when in doubt, buy a bag of lemons. A little bit of lemon juice makes food taste way better in my opinion.

Lemon Garlic Aioli

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

5 mins

Total time

10 mins

 

Author: Lauren Bolanos

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 eggs yolks
• ½ tsp sea salt
• juice from 1 lemon
• ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil
• ½ cup of coconut oil, melted
• 2 pressed cloves of garlic

Instructions

1. Separate eggs to get yolks, add to food processor.
2. Then add lemon juice, sea salt, and pressed garlic.
3. Turn on food processor and very slowly drizzle in olive oil, then coconut oil.
4. Store in an airtight container for 3 to 7 days

Notes

yields 1½ cups

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This sun-dried tomato pesto is raw and vegan friendly. The sun-dried tomatoes were a bit of a impulse purchase when I went shopping at Surfas, which is an amazing gourmet food and kitchen supply store, geared towards culinary professionals in Culver City. They were not packed in oil, so I was able to use my favorite extra virgin olive oil to soak the sun-dried tomatoes in, which added another delicious layer of flavor. All olive oils have their own flavor profile, similar to wines, so definitely keep that in mind and use the good stuff.

I used pine nuts as a substitute for Parmesan cheese. Do not sub out the pine nuts. They are needed for the cheesy flavor that you miss, when you’re dairy free. The more pine nuts you use, the creamier your pesto will turn out. Plus, their flavor is buttery and pretty neutral, so it won’t overpower the rest of the ingredients. If you’re not a fan, you soon will be.

 Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

This lemon dijon dressing is paleo and vegan friendly. Instead of vinegar, I used a half a cup of fresh lemon juice and for the oil, I went with extra virgin olive oil. I made this because I really wanted a salad dressing that tastes amazing with turkey leftovers. Since I used to love turkey wraps with djion mustard, I thought it would be fun to make a salad version of that. Hopefully, I’ll have that recipe posted on the blog soon.

Making this salad dressing was crazy easy. Even the fresh lemon juice took only five lemons, so it wasn’t nearly as time consuming as I expected. This dressing recipe is a bit tart, but if you want it sweeter just increase the amount of honey in this recipe. I wanted to keep the sugar content down, so I only added in 2 tbsp of creamy wildflower honey (my all time favorite honey flavor). I also wanted to give a nod to honey mustard, by using honey instead of another natural sweetener. I also used Amy’s Naturals Organic Dijon Mustard. The only ingredients in this mustard are white vinegar, water, mustard seed, sea salt, and clove. Everything except the sea salt and clove is organic. We make homemade mayo pretty often, so it’s doubly good to have this on hand.

Lemon Dijon Dressing

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

5 mins

Total time

10 mins

 

Author: Lauren Bolanos

Serves: 2-4

Ingredients

• ½ cup of fresh lemon juice (about 5 lemons)
• 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• ½ tsp of sea salt
• 2 tbsp of dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp of honey

Instructions

1. Squeeze fresh lemons for lemon juice
2. Whisk lemon juice with olive oil, sea salt, dijon mustard, and honey.
3. Serve over salad.

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