Creamy Red Pepper Dressing

Very true this week and soooooo glad the weekend is almost here followed by a short work week for Thanksgiving – woohoo! I’m not the only one a little cranky this week, Leela was not thrilled about sharing her fireplace bed with Smokey.

She looked at the bed and me and pouted for awhile before climbing in, then pouted some more. Guess we need another big mushy bed for the fireplace this winter!

And I need lots of salads and smoothies because everyone at work seems to be sick again. I’m thankful that our kitchen is overflowing with fresh produce after a farm box delivery today and used it as an opportunity to create another veggie-based salad dressing. I’m a fan of red pepper hummus, it’s a perfect balance of sweet, savory, tangy, and creamy. But it can be heavy on the stomach too with the chickpeas. So I created a lighter, salad dressing version of it that came out bright, creamy, and packing a garlic kick! And it used plenty of tahini, an obsession of mine that I could eat right out of the jar.

 

Thanks to the pepper, the color of the dressing is a vibrant and warm red – perfect on a chilly evening. So is the creamy and smooth texture.

I coated a simple salad of spinach, carrots, avocado, and chopped tomatoes in the dressing.

And sauteed tempeh chunks with a seasoning blend to top the salad to make it a meal salad.

The dressing came out wonderfully – bright, creamy, tangy, and sweet. It packs most of the flavors I adore about hummus, but not as heavy making a perfect light salad dressing.

And after a pleasant 3-mile run in the chilly weather, I think I’ll soak my legs in a steamy bath with a glass of wine. Happy almost Friday!