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The Unthinkable: A Christmas Salad

December 15, 2011   10 Comments

Snack Girl will not apologize for her continued healthy holiday search. Today's entry: The Christmas Salad.

Christmas Salad

With its colors of red and green, and its sparkling dewiness, it will rival your Christmas tree for beauty and smell. Better yet, you get to EAT it, while the tree ends up on your curb.

Before you click off of here and go look at the latest cookie recipes, hear me out!

This salad is made with kale, which is one of the healthiest foods you can eat. One serving of this salad includes 206% of your daily value of Vitamin A. Kale is just a festival of nutrients.

Here are your holiday gifts from this salad:

  • Kale is CHEAP and in season right now. I bought over 2 pounds for $1.33.
  • Because kale is a winter green it is tougher than lettuce and will keep in your fridge for longer.
  • This salad can be prepared in 5 minutes!

My summer garden is still growing kale and we are in full winter mode. Why can't tomatoes do the same thing? :)

The key to eating raw kale is chopping it into little bits. Obviously, trying to eat a leaf of kale (like a leaf of lettuce) with be next to impossible so you have to pre-chew it with your kitchen knife.

After you wash the kale, and strip it from its stem, you just chop it into small pieces and toss it into your salad bowl. Then the fun part starts! What we DON'T want to do is turn it into yesterday's taco salad and ruin the goodness that is kale.

What we do have to do is make it taste good so you will love it. I used olive oil, Dijon mustard, lemon, salt, and some cherry tomatoes and it was brilliant. Bitter, sour, sweet, salty, crunchy - WOW!

It is amazing to me how good this tastes and I would have never tried it unless my husband made it for me when he forgot to buy lettuce. He just ran out the door, picked some kale, and created this salad that I couldn't stop eating.

Thin slices of parmesan (made with a vegetable peeler) would be great with this.

Do you have any suggestions for preparing fresh kale salad?

kalesaladb

Christmas Kale Salad Recipe

1.6 from 24 reviews

(serves 4)

one bunch of kale
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 fresh lemon
salt to taste
cherry tomatoes (optional)

Wash kale and strip it from its stem. Chop with a kitchen knife into small bits and make approximately 4 cups - add to large bowl. Mix olive oil and Dijon mustard in small cup and pour over kale. Squeeze lemon and toss. Now, taste it! What does it need? Salt, more lemon? Keep tasting until you get to desired flavor. Add cherry tomatoes and serve.

For one serving: 94 calories, 7.3 g fat, 6.8 g carbohydrates, 2.3 g protein, 1.4 g fiber, 100 mg sodium, 3 Points+

Points values are calculated by Snack Girl and are provided for information only. See all Snack Girl Recipes

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10 Comments:

Sounds like a great idea to me! Healthy is good!

tasty little salad. I like your idea of using Kale. see u around =)

Nice. I'd recommend massaging the kale down by hand first with some sea salt and olive oil first. Makes it softer and easier to chew.

sounds good!

I thought I would share my Crazy Red/Green Soup idea

Christmas lentil soup
red and green lentil soup
INGREDIENTS

1 bunch red stemmed Swiss chard washed and chopped into bite sized pieces

1/2 cup lentils
1 large yellow onion small small dice
3 cloves of crushed garlic
fresh cilantro small bunch finely minced
1 tbsp flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1 quart water
salt
pepper
1/4 tsp ground coriander
juice of 1 lemon
INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a soup pot simmer lentils in water covered until they are tender about 40 minutes.

2. in a sauté pan add oil and onions cook until caramelized

3. then add the Swiss chard, cilantro, spices and garlic, cover and cook until wilted

4. then add flour cook 5 minutes

5. then add vegetables into soup pot with lentils add lemon juice simmer for 10 minutes

6. serve with warm pita

I've been making Kale salad also and I love that it holds up so much longer than lettuce. I'm going to try your dressing recipe...sounds yummy and healthy.

Sounds delicious - I love kale! I agree with Mike. I typically massage the dressing into the kale and it's fantastic. I will be trying this dressing. Always looking for new ways to use kale. Thanks!

I had a kale and raisin salad with Ponzu sauce last night - yum!

You could add an apple to this salad. It will be still better, really!!!

Lettuce+orange+slivered

fennel+almonds+dried cranberries+drizzle of olive oil= yummy

A caterer made a great summer salad with kale, quinoa, apricots and pistachios, with a light dressing. It was delicious. I got to take a big bowl home and it kept well for four days.

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