Peach Salad with Peach-Hazelnut Dressing

This salad is made with fresh peaches and greens, then topped with a homemade peach-hazelnut dressing. Toss some hazelnuts over top and it’s perfection!

It’s okay. You’re on the right blog. I made a salad. I know, shocking right.

I had the most amazing peach salad while I was in Miami and it has me on a serious peach kick. I’d love to recreate that recipe, but for today I went with quick and easy.

However I did make my own dressing. I’m not a huge “smother a salad with dressing” kind of gal. When I do use them I prefer fruity ones. They give salad a nice burst of freshness.

For anyone who thinks making your own dressing is difficult, or time consuming, well, you’re just plain wrong. Dressings and vinaigrettes are wicked easy to make and the flavour is so incredible.

I love using fresh ingredients to make my own dressings. I save store bought dressings to marinate things in. I’m cool like that.

You should be cool like me, and pick up some peaches to make this amazing salad. Then whip up some quick and easy peach dressing.

When you sit down to dinner with the famdamnily just pretend this salad was super hard to make. Tell them you worked on this salad all the live long day. You deserve to have someone else do the dishes, rub your feet, maybe fetch your slippers for you. I mean you did work your butt off today making this salad, right.

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Peach Salad with Peach-Hazelnut Dressing

This salad is made with fresh peaches and greens, then topped with a homemade peach-hazelnut dressing. Toss some hazelnuts over top and it's perfection!

Prep Time 20 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 1 Large Salad

Ingredients

• For the Peach Salad:
• 4 cups mixed salad greens any kind
• 1 cup peeled and sliced fresh peaches
• 3/4 cup chopped hazelnuts

For the Peach-Hazelnut Dressing:

• 1 cup peeled and sliced fresh peaches
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons good quality balsamic vinegar
• 4 tablespoons olive oil more if needed
• Dash salt
• 1 large or 2 small, oranges, juiced
• 1/4 cup hazelnuts

Instructions

For the Peach Salad:

• Rinse, dry, then toss your greens. Place in a large serving bowl.
• Cut up peaches and toss into the serving bowl over the greens.
• Toss the chopped hazelnuts in the serving bowl.
• You can leave layered, or toss the whole thing to mix it up.

For the Peach-Hazelnut Dressing:

• Place the peaches, sugar, and balsamic vinegar into a food processor with the chopping blade. Give it a few good pulses. Then turn it on and let it mix for about a minute to combine ingredients.
• Add the olive oil (slowly and you whir the food processor) then add some salt. Check the taste after shutting off the machine. Adjust as needed. You might want to add more olive oil or salt, or if you like pepper feel free to add that now.
• Now pour in the orange juice and the hazelnuts. Pulse a few times, then give it a good whir for about a minute, until everything combines beautifully.
• Transfer to a bottle or dish with a spout. I like to refrigerate mine for about an hour before serving.
• Remove from fridge.
• Pour over salad and let the peachy magic happen.
• Serve with a big old peachy keen smile!

Notes

Recipe Source: Cravings of a Lunatic

I love this salad SO much. You really need to give it a try. I mean look at it. Don’t you just want to take a big bite of it.

Fresh produce is where it’s if you ask me. We’re lucky to live in an area with wonderful produce during the summer months.

My friend Susan of The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen helped me locate a CSA nearby. I had given up hope of ever finding one. Then my fairy godmother sent me the link to find one in my area. Sure enough there’s a farm about 20 minutes from me that delivers, the perfect CSA program for a gal like me.

I signed up on Sunday and I had my first delivery on Monday. It was fabulous. I decided to do a large delivery once every 2 weeks. I can always change it if I want more or less, more frequently or less frequently. They even have add-on’s so I can get eggs, honey or preserves. Pretty cool.

So I thought since I am now a regular CSA gal it would be the perfect time to kick of my summer series “Farm Fresh Fridays”. Each year I post about my farm stand and farmers markets adventures with my daughter. We take our summer produce seriously and travel all over the area to scout out the best stands, and the best markets around.

We’ll be doing our yearly trek to St Jacobs Ontario in August. That’s an epic annual mother/daughter bonding trip. We always have a blast. I’ll be heading up to Toronto for a visit with my gal pal Isabelle of Crumb in August as well. Toronto has the most amazing farmers markets. I love visiting Isabelle and bonding during our foodie adventures.

To kick off Farm Fresh Fridays I’m going to share some photos of my farm share with you. My first time was epic.

 Look at all those veggies. Here’s a few more beauty shots for you. Enjoy!

I’m grilling these bad boys!

I’m making a grilled salad with all of these goodies!

Those vivid peppers are being turned into pesto for grilled sandwiches!

For more Healthy Recipes check out my Healthy Cravings Pinterest Board:

Follow Kim Beaulieu | Cravings of a Lunatic’s board Healthy Cravings on Pinterest.

For more Healthy Cravings check out these recipes:

Farro with Pistachios and Dried Cherries, pictured above

Arugula Salad with Carrots, Shaved Asparagus and Almonds, pictured above

Enchiladas with Quinoa, Chicken, and Peach Salsa, pictured above

Each Friday this summer I will share our farm adventures with you. Some weeks there will be recipes, others will be photos of us on our travels. All to try to find the best farmers markets in Ontario. I’ll also share my CSA delivery with you each time it comes. I hope you’ll join me each week for Farm Fresh Fridays.

Toodles and smoochies! xx