A beautiful farm to table summer salad for you all to brighten your day, actually dayS, since I know you are not only going to make this just once 😉 I visited the farmers market and picked up the goodies you see in this salad and created a masterpiece, if I do say so myself. Even if you do not have any of the other ingredients, all you need is this dressing, it is definitely the star of the show. Its perfect even if you use it as a dip, as I tried that with mushrooms and cauliflower with much success.This salad + dressing was so good that I made it three meals in a row. If you follow me on snapchat (username: jgbriones), you would have seen this meal/dressing idea teasers for about a week now, so here it finally is!The salads were relatively the same in ingredients, but I thought I would share and photograph two of them for you because, for one, both of them rocked my world (in flavor ;p) and two, they were just too damn beautiful not to. I mean, raw foods are always so vibrant and life radiating, right?

As for the second one, I added in celery and these beautiful Sun God Tomatoes I was gifted from my friend Justin. I gave him a few bags of white sapote in exchange for these beauties from his sister’s farm up in northern California. They were so ripe, they were glowing and bursted open when I bit into them. They were the perfect tomato for this salad.Fat-free option? Well, I have not tried this myself and if/when I ever do I will update this small bit, but instead of hemp seeds, you can try putting in a chunk of peeled zucchini to add volume/creaminess to the dressing. The hemp seeds, although in a small amount, thickened it up a bit, so the zucchini will work perfect there. I just am unsure of how creamy it will be as the zucchini will add a slightly higher moisture content. Also, I recommend it to be peeled to prevent the dressing from getting dark brown in color for appeal. Completely optional if appearance is not a factor in your case!If only you all knew what went on behind the scenes of these photos–I usually stand on either the chair or table when taking photos, in order to get the proper distance and angle for my aerial shots, and well, I guess I bore my weight on the table one too many time. After the last few shots of this salad, the table collapsed, I flew off, and the dressing got everywhere! Not to mention I smashed a perfectly ripe avocado with my foot. I mean, I guess I got the photos?

Make sure you tag me on Instagram @sweetsimplevegan or twitter @sweetsimpleveg and hashtag #sweetsimplevegan if you recreate any of my recipes, I love to see your photos!

Raw Summer Fig Salad + Easy Balsamic Hemp Dressing (oil-free, low-fat)

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• Author: Jasmine Briones / Sweet Simple Vegan
• Total Time: 10 minutes
• Yield: 3

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Ingredients

Dressing

• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 Fuji apple, cored and cubed
• 4 large medjool dates, pits removed
• 1 1/2–2 tbs raw hemp hearts
• 1 tablespoon orange juice
• 1 tbsp fresh basil
• 2 tbs fresh parsley
• 1 large oregano leaf
• 1 clove garlic (optional)
• 1/2 tsp brown rice miso

Salad Ideas

• Bed of greens (I like spinach and romaine)
• Ripe black figs (or variety of choice)
• 1/2 avocado
• 1/3 cauliflower
• + any or all of the following:
• Grape/cherry tomatoes
• Cucumber, sliced
• Celery, chopped
• Mushrooms, sliced

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Instructions

1. Place all of the ingredients into a high speed blender and run until smooth and creamy.

• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Category: Dressing
• Cuisine: Vegan