It is only the first day of summer and my vegetable garden has taken off. On the West Coast we have been having an unusually warm and dry spring and my kale has been growing super fast, along with the rest of my vegetable and rose garden. My sunflowers are even coming up which should not be happening until the end of August! What do do with all this kale? Besides sharing it with some of our local LiveWell Consultants and family, I asked my sister in law, Bev, if she had any great recipes to share. I recently visited her home on the way to our holiday in Whistler, B.C. and she gave me this super recipe for the best kale salad I have ever tasted. What I also like about this recipe is that there are a number of alternatives that you can play with to customize it to your taste buds. Here are the . . .
Ingredients
3 cups raw Kale –finely cut
2 cups carrots-thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves-chopped fine
½ cup Cilantro-finely diced
¼ cup toasted Pumpkin seeds
Salad Dressing Ingredients
1 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 TBSP Balsamic Vinegar
1 TBSP Dijon Mustard
Juice of ½ lemon
¼ TSP hot pepper flakes
1/8 tsp Himalayan Sea Salt
Course ground Black Pepper to taste
Optional Salad Add-ins
Parsley, finely chopped (1/4 cup)
Pine or cashew nuts (2 TBSP)
Hemp or sesame seeds (1 TBSP)
Method
Remove Kale from stems and chop finely. Mix in 1 tbsp olive oil and set aside. (This is key to making the kale delightful to chew and digest)Repeat with Cilantro. Slice carrots and garlic cloves and add to kale. Add pumpkin seeds and option salad add-ins.
Set aside and put together dressing in a small bowl.
Mix Olive oil, vinegar and Dijon mustard, Lemon Juice together and sprinkle with red pepper flakes ( less or more depending on how spicy you want the dressing)
When ready to serve:
Pour dressing on salad ingredients and toss well. Add additional seeds as a garnish on top.
I hope you give this salad recipe a try. It is super energizing and I would love to receive your comments about how it turned out for you!
Yours in health,
Carolyn
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