Celery and Pickle Vinaigrette

I got a blender for christmas. I had been wanting one for a long time. I watch the food network show "Chopped" religiously. On Chopped the chefs are constantly utilizing the blender to make all manner of purees and sauces. I found myself very much wanting to be able to do similarly creative things.

On the inaugural run of my new blender I made a classic chimichuri. This was simply because I had leftover parsley from christmas dinner. It was good and I quickly devoured it.

It took me a while to get around to the second try. Not for lack of desire, but simply because the food store was very hectic every time I went there. There was New Year's and then there was a big, big blizzard. There was no real opportunity to browse for blender ingredients.

Finally the moment presented itself.

I had pickles, celery, garlic and jalapeno, hot sauce. I was excited to really get busy with my new blender.

I added all my ingredients to the machine, plus some pickle juice and some water and buzzed it all up.

After tasting I added some salt and pepper, a little soy sauce and some basil.

Satisfied with my concoction I relocated it to a storage container.

I thought to myself I could've used a little less pickle juice, but overall I was very pleased.

Then it dawned on me that this was a perfect opportunity to mix in some nooch as well. AKA nutrional yeast to those not in the know.

I stirred it all together and put it into the fridge to 'marry' overnight.

The next day I had a pretty awesome celery and pickle vinaigrette.

I doused my salad with it. I spooned it over my lentil/barley mixture from a few days before. I even used it to enhance some powdered garlic mashed potatoes.

It's also vegan and has a good dose of B12 for those of us non-meat eaters.

It turned out great and I'm excited to create my next blender sauce. Thanks Chopped.