Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Chocolate Raspberry Vinaigrette

My favorite quick, easy and healthy lunch is to put together a salad.

You can easily get all your food groups in, in no time at all!

But, sometimes dressings can get, well, boring.

Until... I discovered Fused and Infused Olive Oils and Vinegars!

I hesitate to promote the company from which the vinegar below was from, because quite frankly, their customer service and attitude towards competitors was downright appalling. So, if you just google "Olive Oil Companies" in your city, I'll bet you can find a company. They are popping up all over the place! There are 3 companies right in our little neighborhood alone!

Oils/Vinegars that have been "Fused" are when they take whole crushed fruits and add them in at the time of pressing.

Oils/Vinegars that have been "Infused" are when the fruit/flavoring has been added after the time of pressing.

At one of the companies by our house, there are over 50 varieties! They have bacon olive oils, rosemary olive oils, butter olive oils, etc. They have fig balsamic vinegar, cinnamon pear balsamic vinegar and what I'm featuring today: chocolate raspberry balsamic vinegar. You can start to see all the varieties of ways you can spice up dishes and salads! And it's also neat, because if you're bacon-free or butter-free, you can still get the taste of those without actually eating them!

Here's how I used my Chocolate Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar:

Apple Raisin Feta Salad with Chocolate Raspberry Vinaigrette


For the Salad:
1/2 apple, chopped
1T raisins
1-2 handfuls spinach or other greens
3T raw almonds, chopped
1T feta, crumbled

For the Dressing:
Chocolate Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar, drizzle
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, drizzle

Toss all your salad ingredients on a plate or in a bowl. Then, drizzle your vinegar and oil over the salad and enjoy!

Yum!