Creamy Cashew Turmeric Dressing

As you probably know by now, tahini is a staple at my house.

I put tahini on my grain bowls, on my salads, on my toast, on just about everything. My go-to dressing is a combination of tahini, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar and dijon mustard. Over the past year, I admittedly, have had that dressing 360 days out of the 365, just recently switching it up. You know when you find something you love and you just can’t get enough of it, it just goes with everything? Thats me, and tahini. You know how that saying goes…if it’s working, don’t change it or something like that.

But I guess I was getting tired of my regular tahini-maple dressing (the horror, I know!). To be fair, i may have overdone it a bit. It will be back, not to worry. In the meantime, I just started making the most amazing cashew-turmeric-garlic dressing for my daily salads. It is not only delicious, creamy and perfect, but also great for boosting the immune system at this time of year because of its turmeric content.

Although recently all the rage, turmeric has been around for thousands of years. Turmeric is used in ayurvedic medicine as a digesting healing agent. It is a gut health God. More than that, turmeric is a potent anti-inflammatory that has the potential to to combat inflammatory disorders, strengthen the immune system, prevent and slow the growth of cancer and improve cognitive function.

When incorporated into your healthy home cooking, turmeric can improve digestion, and reduce gas and bloating by stimulating bile production in the liver and encouraging excretion of bile via the gall bladder, which improves the body’s ability to digest fats. It improves the intestinal flora and is now being explored and utilized as a treatment for IBS related diseases. Wahoo!

Turmeric is more bioavailable when consumed with fats, eaten with quercetin rich foods (plant foods), and sprinkled with black pepper. Try yours in a homemade salad dressing like mine, to spice things up. Pour over grain bowls, salad, bean bowls, you name it. Also great as a sandwich dressing or dipping sauce with a wrap. And I’d imagine it’s delish over chili and tacos too.

Cashew Turmeric Dressing

INGREDIENTS

1 cup raw cashews (soaked 4-6 hours)
1 cup filtered water
1 clove garlic
1/2 lemon squeezed
1/2 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp himalayan pink salt
fresh black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a high speed blender like a Vitamix to ensure that it becomes nice and creamy and the cashews are completely emulsified.

2. Add water to thin if needed, add more lemon for additional tartness, and/or more turmeric for punch. Enjoy.