Arugula Salad with Blueberry Dressing

Every time I buy blueberries, I find handful of pale and tart berries in a package.  I freeze them until I have about a cup or more of them.  Then, I add 1/3-1/2cup sugar and enough water to cover berries and simmer over medium-low heat until most of water has been evaporated(about30-45minutes).  Skim off any foam on surface during cooking.

This blueberry jam is not as sweet as store bought jams.  This jam has just enough sweetness for my taste buds since I don't like excess sugar in anything. 

This jam tastes great with plain low-fat yogurt.  It gave lots of flavor without too much sugar---most manufactures' blueberry yogurt contains awaaaay too much added sugar!

I decided to try making blueberry dressing when I ran out of homemade raspberry dressing.  There are many berry-based dressing in stores, however, most of them are(again) too sweet for my taste.   If there's someone else who wants berry-based salad dressing that's not overloaded with sugar, I recommend making homemade dressing.  It's easy!

Arugula Salad with Blueberry Dressing

Click "Read more" for the recipe.

Ingredients(as in this photo)

Baby arugula 

Armenian cucumber, cut into bite-size cubes or triangles

Tomatoes, cut into bite-size cubes or triangles

Feta cheese, crumbled

Blueberry dressing (see below)

Freshly ground salt & black pepper

Olive oil of your choice

Purple bell pepper, sliced

Avocado, cut into bite-size pieces

Toss all ingredients except avocado pieces (unless you prefer your avocados smashed).

Plate salad.  Add avocado pieces to garnish.

The reason I didn't give any measurement is that the amount of ingredients should change as you make substitutions.  Also, it is important to make YOUR salad by adjusting how it tastes.  I tend to use less oil and more black pepper than most people do.

You can use other varieties of peppers and cucumbers, or omit tomatoes if you don't like them.  Thinly sliced onions and chunks of apples or pears would work in this salad---you could even substitute blue cheese to feta and add some toasted nuts.

Blueberry Dressing

Ingredients

About 1/4-1/3cup blueberry jam, as described in beginning of this article

1/3-1/2 cup red wine vinegar

Salt & black pepper

1/2-1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed

1/2 teaspoon roasted or regular garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon ground fennel seeds

1/4 teaspoon ground celery seeds

Sugar(optional), if it tastes too sour

Water(optional), if it tastes too strong

*Olive oil of your choice (add to salad when you are ready to toss your salad)

Mix all ingredients with a whisk or in a blender if you prefer blueberries blended.  Add sugar and/or water (and/or more seasonings) as needed and blend again.

Adjust the amount of vinegar and jam according to the acidity of vinegar.  I'm sure there are plenty of other spices and herbs we can add or substitute in this recipe.  I made this one with what I had in my kitchen.

I originally made this recipe for Raspberry Dressing (in which blueberry jam is replaced by raspberry jam) with some minor adjustments in amount of seasonings. 


*I do not add olive oil or any other oil to vinegar mixture so that I don't have to worry about oil solidifying in the fridge.  If you are going to use it right away, you can blend it together.  I toss vinegar mixture and oil into salad just before serving.