I'm busy, and I don't always handle busyness well. I'm no super-mom and I'm no career woman. I'm somewhere in between. I love working and I love mom-ing. I love getting to the gym, gardening, taking photos and writing (is this a dating website?). I also love cooking, but if I'm not careful, that one can fall by the wayside when I get too busy. I had no idea how hard it would be to multi-task my life once kids arrived. I had to learn and re-learn how to be organised and prepared; and food & meal prep was, and still is, an important one for me. I'm always coming up with new ways to get good, wholesome food into myself and my kids.

 We all need to eat. The kids need packed lunches, they need full breakfasts, they need snacks for the park, for swimming lessons, for car rides, for play-dates and everything else in between. And they need a good home-cooked dinner every night. It's easy to forget that I need all of those things too (maybe not quite as many snacks). And ALL of those things need to be healthy and good and easy.

Salad dressing is one of those items that I love to have prepped in the fridge. And it's not necessarily for the kids. This post is for us parents. We must remember to take care of ourselves, too. We may not have time to make home-made lentil sushi for dinner every night (I should post that recipe, it's so good), but if there's a good dressing that's packed with nutrients in the fridge, ready to go, we can, at the very least, throw some on a pile of  pre-washed greens and call it a day. If it's also packed with flavour, we can be inspired and get more creative.

I'm going to show you three easy, super healthy and delicious creamy dressings that I love to have on hand. For me. 

Classic Creamy Coleslaw - With a Twist

That coleslaw that we get on the side of our deep fried fish and chips or in the salad section of the deli has the potential to be an absolute super-food. Unfortunately, it's usually covered in the unholiest of dressings. Cabbage is one of the healthiest veggies you can eat. It's a cruciferous vegetable that has anti-cancer properties and hormone balancing abilities. And with a good dressing, you can sneak any shredded vegetable in that suits your fancy. I often include shredded broccoli stems, carrots, red onion, beets, apple, parsnip, radish, or fennel. Sometimes I include some cilantro or a touch of dill.

To make this dressing, I simply googled 'creamy coleslaw dressing' and came to this recipe. Overall, it looked like a good one, flavour-wise; and with a few tweaks, it would be perfect, nutrient-wise.

First step: I omitted the 1 cup of mayo and replaced it with about 2 cups of soaked raw cashews (this will puree down to about 1 cup of cashew cream). 

To make cashew cream, you simply soak your raw cashews for several hours in filtered water (I soaked mine overnight in the fridge). When you're ready to use them, rinse the cashews, discarding the water and puree them down with the liquid of your choice. Cashew cream is hugely versatile. You can make sweets like vegan cheesecake or ice cream with it, or more savoury dishes like this dressing or a lovely vegan fettuccini alfredo.

I've placed the whole cashews in the blender. I'll puree them down with the rest of the ingredients for the dressing.

The original recipe called for 1/4 cup of white sugar. I replaced that with 1 tbsp of raw honey.

I replaced the rice wine vinegar from the original recipe with Bragg's ACV - 2 tbsp. 

The recipe calls for horseradish, and it is highly necessary for that classic coleslaw-y vibe, but please do yourself a favour and be picky about the brand you choose. Did you know that horseradish is REALLY good for you? Its full of important minerals, vitamin C and folate. It can help reduce blood pressure, improve digestion and acts as a natural antibiotic. Bubbies horseradish has minimal ingredients and hardly any sugar. I'm not a big horseradish eater, so I was shocked at the long list of completely unnecessary ingredients in many jars on the shelf! 

The bulk of my ingredients are ready to go in the blender, The cashews, a bit of lemon juice, some ACV, horseradish and a dollop of honey. 

On top of that, I'll throw in our spices: Celery salt, mustard powder, garlic powder, sea salt and black pepper.

Blend away! Now, when pureeing down soaked cashews, you've got to play around with the liquids a bit. I wanted to start with the key flavour ingredients and see how creamy it would get before adding any water for thinning. And that's what I've done here. You can see that it's blending up on the thick side.

While I love this dressing at it's thickest, it's got to be a bit creamier than this. I'll add about 1/8 cup of water to thin it out.

Perfect! I whirred it up for another few seconds and now it's perfectly thick, smooth and creamy.

Spoon this dressing over your favourite coleslaw mix.

Delicious.

I promise with all my heart that is tastes like authentic creamy coleslaw. 

Classic Creamy Coleslaw dressing

• 2 cups of soaked and drained raw cashews
• 1 tbsp raw honey
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• Juice from 1/2 a lemon
• 1 tbsp GOOD horseradish
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 1/2 tsp celery salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper, ground
• 1/8 - 1/4 cup water for thinning, if desired

1. Soak cashews for 3 hours to over night in fridge
2. Drain and rinse cashews and place in blender
3. To the whole cashews, add the remaining ingredients, except for the water
4. Blend until mostly pureed, assessing whether or not you need to add water to thin it out
5. If you do add water, add it 1 tbsp at a time
6. Keep in the fridge for up to 3 days

Thai-Inspired Ginger Peanut

I love love LOVE a good creamy peanut dressing over a cold rice vermicelli salad. When I want to be really impressive, I substitute the rice noodles with cucumber or kelp noodles (have you picked up your spiral slicer yet?). This dressing is incredibly simple and quick to whip up and it's very versatile. It's great over chicken, beef or pork, it's wonderful as a veggie dip and works beautifully as a dressing for any number of salads. Toot my own horn much?

Start with about three tbsp of peanut butter. You can, of course, substitut any nut butter for peanut. If you are avoiding peanuts, but want the taste to be as close to this one as possible, go with sunbutter. If you do go with peanut butter, DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER USING ANYTHING BUT NATURAL PEANUT BUTTER. I'm using Nuts To You. They make the absolute most delicious PB I've ever had.

To the PB, add about 3 tbsp of ACV, 1 - 2 tsp hot sauce (your choice of brand and quantity) and about 1 tbsp of tamari. If you've got a garlic press, press in about 1 inch of ginger. I like to press my ginger because you get a lot of juice this way. It seems to impart a bit more of a ginger zing when you add the juice and pulp separately. You can certainly just shred it if you'd like. After the ginger, press in 1 clove of garlic. You add as much or as little as you'd like, of course.

And here it all is. Ready to be combined. Don't bother adding any salt, as the tamari acts as a source of sodium.

Whisk away. I find that having some extra ACV on hand while I'm whisking helps, just in case it needs to be thinned out. Splash in about 1/2 tsp at a time if you're finding it's too thick.

Whisk to combine until it's completely smooth. I like my dressing pretty thick, as veggies always release a bit of water - and sometimes they're still wet from being washed - so if the dressing is too thin, it can get thinned out further and become runny.

I love this dressing with spiralized veggies. I've got some cucumber, carrot, red onion and red pepper ready to be dressed.

Yum! Remember, cucumbers are watery, so a thick dressing works best here. 

Enjoy with tamarind almonds, cashews, pumpkins seeds - what ever you like.

This salad definitely satisfies my noodle cravings.

Ginger-Peanut Salad Dressing and Dip

• 3 tbsp natural peanut butter
• 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp tamari
• 1 -2 tsp hot sauce
• 2 tsp raw honey
• 1 inch ginger pressed or shredded
• 1-2 cloves garlic, pressed or shredded

1. Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl
2.  Whisk to combine, adding more ACV as needed (1/2 tsp at a time)
3. Store in the fridge for 3-5 days

Creamy Avocado

This one's not meant to resemble guacamole. I've taken a basic vinaigrette formula: fat + vinegar + mustard + salt/pepper and created a simple, creamy version. Rather than the olive or vegetable oil, I've mashed up an avocado. The rest is pretty well the same. It's a good base to add which ever flavours you'd like.

Start with 1/2 of an avocado

To this, add the vinegar, mustard, honey (I do love a bit of honey in my basic oil/vinegar vinaigrette) a squeeze of lemon and salt. All of this can be added in quantities to your liking. Any basic dressing should follow a basic pattern: a bit more fat than vinegar and a bit less of the rest of the ingredients. It's just that simple. Why on earth do commercially made salad dressings exist?

Mash it all together with a fork. You can puree it with a submersion blender or in a small food processor if you really don't like lumps, but I find them just lovely in a leafy salad.

Perfect!

This dressing works beautifully over a thick leafy green salad, like kale. It can be as simple as a few seeds or nuts sprinkled over the chopped leaves or you can beef it up with heartier veggies like tomato, red onion, shredded carrot, pear or apple slices - the list never ends.

This salad is SO fresh and, surprisingly, very hearty. You can press in some garlic and stir in a bit of nutritional yeast for a caesar salad vibe. Or mix in some lime & cilantro for a guacamole vibe. 

Enjoy!

Basic Creamy Avocado Dressing

• 1/2 of an avocado
• 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp raw honey
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• Splash of fresh lemon juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl
2. Mash with a fork and continue to stir until combined
3. Keep in the fridge for 3-5 days