Featured Food: Raspberries

Raspberry Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

1/2 cup walnut oil

1 cup fresh raspberries

1/4 cup agave nectar

1 teaspoon prepared Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Pinch of salt

Method:

Blend all the ingredients together with a blender until smooth. Dress your favorite greens and lettuces just before serving.  Dressing will keep in an air-tight bottle or container for up to 2 weeks.

Resources:

http://www.sonomaharvestfoods.com/about/

Recipe by Rachel Crockett

 

Simple Raspberry Parfait

Ingredients

• Fresh raspberries
• 1 ½ cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs or vanilla wafer substitute
• Custard or lowfat Greek vanilla yogurt substitute
• Ricotta cheese
• Apples or pears, depending on what is in season
• Sliced almonds
• Sugar or low-cal. sweetener
• Optional ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
• Optional whipped dessert topping

Method

Cookie layer:

First, mix ground graham cracker crumbs, 1/3 cup of sugar, and cinnamon until blended.  Set aside.

Cream or custard layer:

Make a cream by combining the custard or lowfat Greek vanilla yogurt substitute, sugar or low-cal. Sweetener, and optional whipped dessert topping.  Set aside.

Fruit layer:

Thinly slice your apples or pears, depending on what is in season.  Set aside.

Raspberry sauce layer:

Make a homemade raspberry sauce by combining most of the raspberries with some sugar or low-calorie sweetener, and a little bit of water in a pan.  Cook down on medium heat until you have a thick, sweet-tasting sauce, stirring frequently.

In parfait dishes, layer in the following order:

Cookie layer

Cream (or custard) layer

Raspberry sauce layer

Almonds

Fruit layer

Repeat until the parfait dish is almost full, then garnish with fresh raspberries, a dollop of whipped dessert topping, and some almonds.

Recipe and photo by Nadja Masura