Ginger Dressing and Ginger Dressing Hummus

I woke up this morning sore and hungry, not ideal for a cardio session since I suffer from hangry-itis. Have you heard of it? First you get hungry, and then you start to get a little on edge with just about everything. Hungry + angry = hangry. So I decided to listen to my body and spend my morning in the kitchen, fueling up for my cardio session later. Way better than half-assing it through my workout.

So where did my tastebuds bring me today? To Benihana, the salad course to be exact. If you don't have a Benihana near you, then I'm talking about any hibachi style grill and that orange, kinda chunky dressing that they always serve on the salads. It's phenomenal, tangy, and a little sweet. I always want to take a bottle home, but I have never mustered up the guts to ask for it. Now you don't have to either! 

Gather These Things:

- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

- 5 T rice wine vinegar

- 2 T soy sauce (I use Bragg's liquid aminos)

- 3 T of water

- 2 large carrots, chopped

- 1 garlic clove,

- 2 T of white onion

- 1.5 inches of ginger root

Directions:

- Place all things except olive oil in your Vitamin or food processor. I can't promise exact results for anything but a Vitamix since that is what I have, but I'm sure other blenders will work.

- Slowly add oil while blending on low, so your dressing doesn't go everywhere. 

- If you need more oil, add it. I've seen recipes that call for up to 1 1/2 cups of oil, but I don't love a super oily dressing.

After looking at these pictures, it's clear I need to clean my Vitamix haha :).

Blend all but the oil!

I felt like I was living on the edge by sticking my camera in the Vitamix while blending...all ended well though!

Mmmm there she is! Mike's mom found this old milk bottle that was originally from Fairport Harbor, kinda cool huh? Normally it houses roses from the garden, but not today!

Here are the nutrition facts for 16 servings. I'm not sure how many servings there should be, so I just guessed. Either way, it's a healthy and lower fat salad dressing that doesn't skimp on flavor!

Recipe name

Ginger Asian dressing

Number of servings

Serves 16.0 people

Ingredients	Calories		Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Trader Joe's Organic - Premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 3 tbsp (15mL)	360	0		42	0	0	0
Ginger root - Raw, 7.5 slices (1" dia)	13	3		0	0	2	0
Generic - Fresh Garlic Clove, 1 Clove (3.0 g)	4	1		0	0	1	0
Generic - Diced White Onion, 1/6 cup	11	3		0	0	1	1
Nakano - All Natural Rice Wine Vinegar, 5 tablespoon	0	0		0	0	0	0
Carrots - Raw, 2 large (7-1/4" to 8-1/2" long)	59	14		0	1	99	7
Generic - Braggs Liquid Amino Acids- Correct Info, 6 tsp.	0	0		0	4	1,920	0
Total:	447	21		42	5	2,023	8
Per Serving:	28	1		3	0	126	1

Since there was a little more than one pint in my blender, I needed to figure out what to do with the excess (about 1/2 cup). That's when it hit me - Asian Dressing Hummus!

Directions:

- put a can of garbonzo beans in the food processor (or blender, I just enjoy dirtying as many dishes as possible)

- add leftover dressing

- mix!

This hummus is awesome - it has the tang from the rice wine vinegar and the sweetness from the carrots. I added a little more rice wine vinegar and ginger because I like a nice little punch to my food, but feel free to add more of whatever tastes you like best!