Honey Sesame Dressing on Pecan Craisin Salad

The idea for this salad dressing recipe came to me yesterday, when I was sitting at my island with my friend, BJ.  She had brought a salad we could eat together while our kids, along with my uncle's 15 grandkids, were downstairs watching a movie. The salad was dressed with a sweet vinaigrette and it was delicious. I decided that I had to make this today, but never did get around to calling her for the recipe until it was almost time for the kids to come home for lunch. So, I threw some stuff in the blender, and what resulted was really quite good. The kids liked it, too, especially the 15-year-old girl, who had to ask me three times what was in it because we kept getting interrupted by the 4-year-old boy's attempts at disciplining his 2-year-old twin brothers.

Hope you love this like we do....

For the dressing:
2 cups olive oil.
2 cups balsamic vinegar
1 cup honey
1/2 cup nama shoyu
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup sesame seeds
(Makes about 1 1/2 quarts)

For the salad:
Greens
Pecans
Craisins
Croutons

1. To make the dressing, add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.

2. To make the salad, toss the greens, pecans and craisins. Add croutons and dressing.

Iron Man Popsicles

In my town, people bring over food all the time. When I first moved here, they did it because I was pregnant with my 7th child. They kept doing it after he was born, because they figured I was overwhelmed (and for the most part were right), then continued to do it when I became pregnant with the twins, then really stepped it up after I delivered the twins, then kept it up when I got pregnant with number ten, and are still continuing it because I now have a newborn.

It's awesome!

So a couple of days ago, one of these wonderful souls brought over a huge bowl of cut-up mixed fruit. We ate a lot of it for dinner, then some for lunch the next day, and then, because I didn't want it to go bad, I decided to dump the remainder into the Vita-Mix, watermelon seeds and all, and make Popsicles out of it. And because I wanted to add even more nutrients to the mixed fruit, I added flax seeds and sesame seeds. I love sesame seeds because they have tons of iron, which is so important for me, a breastfeeding mom.

When the kids came home that day and asked what kind of Popsicles I had made, I declared that I had made "Iron Man Popsicles". The 10-year-old boy replied...

"So you mean if I eat these, I'm going to become Iron Man?"

"Yes, 10-year-old boy", I answered. "You are."

"Good, because I've been drawing up some plans for an Iron Man suit that I'm going to make when I get old enough for welding class," he said, and proceeded to unfold a worn piece of paper detailing his drafts, both front and back...

Hopefully eating lots of Iron Man Popsicles will help him accomplish his dream of actually becoming Iron Man. Enjoy...

Ingredients

* 4 tablespoons flax seeds
* 1 cup water
* 5 cups mixed fruit
* ½ cup honey or agave nectar
* 2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Directions

1. In a blender, mix flax seeds and water until smooth.

2. Add fruit and blend until smooth.

3. Add sesame seeds and blend until just mixed in, but seeds are still whole.

4. Pour into molds and freeze for at least six hours. To remove pops, leave them out at room temperature for a few minutes or run the molds under cool water for a few seconds.

Direct recipe link: http://keyingredient.com/recipes/327942/