Fork and Beans

Making food fun for the family

Cilantro Lime Salad Dressing

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When Matt travels out of town, I tend to spend more time on the computer at night than I normally do. Last night was no exception as I browsed through several saved articles that I have been meaning to read when I had a free moment. I dog-eared this one article by Steve Pavlina, “How to Discover Your Life Purpose in 20 Minutes” after I first found another one of his articles, “10 Reasons You Should Never Have a Job.” Now that’s my kind of topic. I was intrigued with the thought of actually figuring out my purpose in a mere 20 minutes and thought, What’s the worst that could happen? I could lose 20 minutes of my life…

Upon first attempting this exercise, I thought, “Well this should be rather easy. I am a self-aware kind of girl and I will totally get this in no time!” 30 minutes later, I was frustrated and tired. I hated this exercise suddenly, believing that is was stupid and a waste of time. Which by the way, Steve addresses the levels of emotion you can experience during this exercise. I hit the wall of frustration. But because I am useless past 8:00 PM and had the dumb idea to try this at 10:00 PM, I decided going to bed would be the best choice. I kept my list up on my computer though, only getting up to 45 lines, determined to get back to it the next day.

dressing

When I picked it back up, I only had to add 2 more items until I heard this voice loud and clear in my head:

I should already know this!

And that is when it hit me. The tears began to roll down my face…just as Steve said they would.

My life’s purpose is To create my own path in this life through the abolishment of the “shoulds” in my head, to write my own guidelines for living, and to learn how to trust myself every step of the way, all the while creating beauty that inspires others to also live fearlessly.

I’m curious to hear if any of you tried this exercise. I would love to hear YOUR life purpose!

 

Cilantro Lime Dressing Recipe

This reminds me of one of my most favorite salad dressings ever that is filled with tons of mayo. Finally, a dressing I can enjoy!

Coats 2 salads (or 1, depending on how greedy you are with your dressing)

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1/2 c. cashews
  • juice of 1 lime
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 4 Tb water
  • 2 medium handfuls of cilantro
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1-2 tsp jalapeno (1/4 of a whole jalapeno)
  1. In a high-speed blender, place the cashews, lime/lemon juice, and water inside and blend. Depending on what type of consistency you want in a dressing, add (or not) more water by the tablespoon.
  2. Throw in the rest of the ingredients into the blender until combined but not necessarily completely smooth. You want those small chunks in that dressing–it’s the best part!

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About Cara

Based in Chicago with her husband and son, Cara is the creator behind the site Fork and Beans: A place where kids can have fun with their food.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. Katie

    Cara,

    Thanks for sharing this dressing! I love all the recipes on your site, and you have been a great inspiration to me as I have recently began a vegetarian/vegan blog myself! I changed this up a little bit because the people I were serving don’t like spicy, so I took out the jalapeno, and I added in some chives, but next time I will absolutely add in the jalapeno.

    Here is my salad! (and I gave you credit for the dressing of course) http://worldwidevegetarian.com/recipe/spring-spiral-salad/

    Hope you like it! Keep up the amazing work,
    Katie

  4. Diana

    Hi Cara! I just found your blog and felt in love with the pictures. You truly inspired me to keep working on my blog 🙂 Talking about the meaning of life. We’re on the same boat! Trying to do what I love which is cooking delicious food it’s what makes me happy. At the moment, I’m working in an office all day and I hate it! Hopefully with the changes I’m currently making will make everything better.

    Keep up the great work you do and I hope to stay connected with you!

    Have a lovely day!

  7. Cristina

    My blender is just awful and I broke the food processor one day making candy cane vodka.. but I really, really want to try blending up cashews for use in creamy things like this. The amount of mayo that goes into most of my sauces and dressings is borderline shameful.

    • Cara

      Reba, I use Cuisinart’s version of the Magic Bullet, which conveniently allows you to use small quantities with great results. Hope this helps!

  9. Jan

    I love that exercise! So frustrating but such a good breakthrough. my purpose is sharing the message you can be who you are. More happiness, productivity, efficiency, and balance comes from embracing it.

    • Cara

      Did you try it, Jan? Or have you had that vision for a while now? (I’m going with the latter) 🙂

  10. Brooke (Crackers on the Couch)

    I had never heard of Steve Pavlina’s method, which sounds interesting and so simple it’s brilliant! Not to be one of “those” people, but I spent quite a few years trying to figure out what I was here for, and found my answer in Proverbs 31. I cried when I found it, too. It’s kind of a boring thing this day and age, but I really feel like I’m here to be a wife and mother and to be the kind of woman who makes my family proud. Love the look of that dressing, btw!

    • Cara

      This comment made my heart so happy, Brooke… What a beautiful thing to find your purpose through the scriptures. How truly meaningful. xo

    • Cara

      Hi Betsy! What I was trying to convey is that this recipe is the exact twin of a favorite dressing that IS filled with mayo. This recipe, you are right, is not however 🙂 xo, Cara

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