The next time we have this dressing, I would back off the water to about 1-1/2 cups. I feel that as written, this recipe results in too thin a dressing.

modified by Wardeh Harmon from “The Guilt-Free Gourmet”

• 2 cups filtered water
• 1 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
• 3 teaspoons onion powder
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Blend first 6 ingredients in blender until smooth. Add olive oil. Blend to incorporate. Transfer to glass jar. Mix in parsley, basil and poppy seeds. Refrigerate unused portion. Mix well before serving.

Tomato Dressing

modified from a recipe in the Vita-Mix cookbook

• 1/2 cup filtered water
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1-1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil
• 4 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 tablespoons agave syrup
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2-1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon prepared mustard

Blend all ingredients thoroughly in Vita-Mix. Pour into glass jar or dressing container. Refrigerate.

I take my glass salad dressing container with a plastic removable pour spout (or a pint size jar with lid). In it, I put a little sweetener (raw honey usually), about 1/2 teaspoon each of sea salt and onion powder, along with 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. I also add dried herbs, but more liberally, about 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons of each. Usually I pick dill because that is my favorite herb flavor for salad dressing. Over all this, I fill the container 1/4 to 1/3 of the way up with raw apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar (or some of each). I put the lid on and shake it all up. I remove the lid and fill the rest of the container up with extra virgin olive oil and a dash of toasted sesame seed oil. Replace lid and shake well before each serving.