Saturday, February 26, 2011

The Two Step (Kale Salad)



Who doesn't like a salad that's easy AND wholesome?


Step 1 (ie. prep before bike ride)
Get a container with a lid and put in 1/8 cup pine nuts, 2 tablespoons raisins, and 1 orange, cut into pieces.  Close container, shake vigorously, and put in the fridge for 30 minutes-1 hour.

Step 2 (ie. after bikeride and preferably after shower!)
Wash 3-4 kale leaves.  Cut across leaves into 1/2 inch strips.  Massage these strips by taking handfuls and squeezing and rubbing together until the kale turns dark green and shiny and your hands are green from the juice.  Mix into the Step 1 mixture and serve.  Optional: add hazelnut or other oil in refrigerated mixture before mixing into kale.

Comments:  Shaking the orange pieces with the raisins and pine nuts allows the juices to interact with the other ingredients in a wonderful way, making for a salad that is sweet but still satisfying on this cold winter day.  Rubbing kale ahead of time somehow makes it easier for me to eat raw.  It becomes soft and juicy, rather than firm and like a leaf picked fresh from a tree.

***

Don't love kale?  

Well then, I challenge you to eat it for seven days straight and by the end of that week you will love it.  Your body will crave it and miss its nutrient-dense health-a-licious-ness when you take it away.  

***

4 comments:

  1. I love how a bike ride is part of the instructions! lol. Actually, that's a great l idea for a cookbook, where all the recipes included a bit of exercise.

    Your kale salad sounds great...I think the nuts, raisins, and oranges sound like perfect combo with the kale.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aw, this recipe makes me jealous! Kale season has ended here (in mid-north Germany) and this sounds so delicious that I just want to eat Kale... :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. I really love kale...but I do not like kale's prices! So I buy the frozen variety from Whole Foods which obviously doesn't do this vegetable justice.

    Great recipe - the orange juice totally intrigues me!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds delicious. I miss kale when I don't have any in the house. ;-)

    ReplyDelete