February 19, 2013

Citrus Kale Salad

Salads.  Where do I begin... I seriously love you.  I love how simple, yet complex you can be.  You are versatile, delicious and can be extremely healthy and satisfying.  You also take a long time to eat...and let's face it, who doesn't love a meal that takes a long time to eat...unless of course you are in a hurry, then you might not be the best choice, but in general you are fantastic!

Last week I was having dinner at Rebar with my friend, Nicole and we got to talking about kale.  Vegetables and cooking usually take up about 80% of our conversations but kale hadn't been talked about much lately.  Now, I love kale...but I haven't bought it in months.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe I was just a little bored with it.  Regardless, as soon as she said the word "kale" I couldn't get it out of my mind.  I had to have some right away.  I bought a few heads of organic kale at the grocery store the next day and decided to make a large raw kale salad for my weekly lunches.

HOLYYYYYY I am so incredibly happy that I did.  I haven't been this excited about my lunches/meals in such a long time and it is really refreshing to feel that way.  I love looking forward to a yummy meal.  I wanted to incorporate some kind of citrus, because oranges are so delicious right now.  This isn't really a recipe because I made a large batch of the kale and a separate container of the hazelnut topping and have been making different varieties as I go along.  But, here's the recipe for the dressing I used.

Citrus Kale Salad
inspired by TumblrRumblr's Kale Salad

I started off by ripping up and washing my kale.  Then I drizzled some organic extra virgin olive oil on top, dusted it with course salt and freshly ground pepper and massaged it.  Yes, you heard that right...I massaged my kale.  Everyone needs a little lovin' from time to time ;)

I then mixed up the following ingredients in my magic bullet.  You can use a blender as well.

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
4 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
1-2 dates (1 medjool)
1/2 tsp coarse salt

Next, I poured this on top of the kale and massaged again.  I let this sit overnight.  It breaks down the kale and makes it softer, not as chewy, and easier to digest!

In my magic bullet, again you can use your food processor or another blender, I pulsed 1/3 cup roasted, peeled hazelnuts (they can be raw with their skins on too) and ~6 dates until they were coarsely chopped.

In the morning, when I was putting my lunch together, I put the kale in a to-go container, topped it with some plain chicken breast, the hazelnut date mixture and some reduced balsamic vinegar. AMAZING. PHENOMENAL. TO DO FOR. FANTASTIC. INCREDIBLE... okay, I think you get the picture.


Today, I did the same, but I added on some basil vinaigrette, blueberries and feta cheese.  Seriously? Too good...I am craving it already and I ate it only a few hours ago.  Guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow...  Oh well, at least I have something to look forward to :-)







1 comment:

  1. GAH, delicious. I need to make these when I get back. they look so delicious. Actually, I think I might make one of these bad boys tomorrow.. craving kale like no other right about now, or any vegetable for that matter ;)

    ReplyDelete