Fresh Cranberry Vinaigrette from Healthy Girl's Kitchen

I really wanted a chickpea flour omelet filled with hash browns, onions, mushrooms, spinach and tomatoes this morning.  So, while tearing through the freezer looking for the shredded frozen potatoes I was sure I had, I found some frozen cranberries I had forgotten about.  It was then that I remembered a cranberry vinaigrette from the blog, Healthy Girl's Kitchen.  Fresh cranberries are great to buy a good quantity of in November and December when they are plentiful and cheap and freeze them.  You don't have to prep them in any way for the freezer.  I usually transfer them to a more suitable container rather than the perforated bag they come in and freeze them.  They keep beautifully and you will have them all year.

Here is the link to the recipe:
http://www.healthygirlskitchen.com/2011/12/cranberry-dressing-is-it-for-salad-or.html

Such beautiful vibrant pink color - even with my stinky camera!



The original recipe calls for the following ingredients:
1 1/4 cups fresh cranberries
1 Tbsp orange juice concentrate
½ cup water
¼ cup raw cashews
1 whole orange with peel removed but seeds intact
¼ cup vinegar (Wendy used Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar)
4 pitted dates
dash of salt, or not

I made the following changes:
-Increased cranberries to 1 1/2 cups (I wanted more cranberry flavor)
-Omitted the OJ concentrate because I didn't want to buy any
-Used 1 1/2 fresh oranges instead of just 1.  Instead of peeling the oranges, I cut the rind off with a  sharp knife so as to remove all of the bitter pith (white part under the skin) that I could
-Used apple cider vinegar.  Next time I will use a fruit vinegar, but I didn't have a citrus one when I made this.  The apple cider vinegar was too strong for my taste. 


Fresh Cranberry Vinaigrette atop my salad of romaine, avocado, candy onions, sweet bacon-flavored chickpeas and homemade vegan almond "parmesan."



I really like this dressing and the next time it will be even better with a different vinegar.  Maybe even no vinegar and just add more orange instead.  I love sweet fruity dressings and this one is a keeper!