kale Archives - Just J.Faye

Let’s talk kale. Have you heard of it? I’m assuming yes, but I still come across people who have not. Mainly men. They get it confused with kelp.

Fellas, it’s not the same. Although I see where you may get confused. They both start with “k”, are green, are plants, etc, etc, etc.

But, kale. It’s a “superfood” full of iron, vitamins, fiber, and calcium. We should eat a lot of it, like err’day. Today we’re going to mix it with a few simple ingredients and make this raspberry avocado kale salad.

Gorgeous, right?

The green and purple kale. The bright red raspberries. The sprinkles of pistachios and almonds. It’s just… so beautiful.

Where is the avocado, you ask? Great question. It is massaged into the kale.

It might sound odd, but massaging kale helps make it soft and takes out the bitterness. Massaging kale with avocado helps make it extremely delicious. I learned this pro tip from my friend Monica. She knows her kale.

This salad takes approximately no time to make. The most time-consuming part is the kale massage, which lasts approximately 3 minutes. It is kind of a boring 3 minutes just standing there rubbing avocado and kale together, but you can multi-task! Maybe do some calf raises, sing a song, count to 180, have someone else give you a massage. If you’re in a room with a bunch of people you could start a whole massage train! Wouldn’t that be great?! Massages for everyone!

Anyways, after the massaging all you have to do is toss it with raspberries, almonds, and pistachios, then drizzle it with some raspberry vinegar. Voila, raspberry avocado kale salad!

Easy. Healthy. Delicious. Beautiful. What more could you want in a salad!?

What? You want to add bacon? Toss it in there! You could also add quinoa or grilled chicken for some additional protein. If you don’t have raspberry vinegar feel free to swap it out for either balsamic or red wine vinegar. So many possibilities. But not kelp. Let’s stick with the kale.

Raspberry Avocado Kale Salad

Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

A bunch of kale massaged with avocado, tossed with raspberries, almonds, and pistachios, then drizzled with raspberry vinegar. A simple, delicious, healthy, and gorgeous salad!

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients

1 bunch kale
1 avocado
1 pint raspberries
⅓ cup chopped nuts (I used almonds and pistachios)
1 tablespoon raspberry vinegar
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Remove the ribs from the kale. Then chop the leaves into small pieces. You can either discard the ribs or chop them up as well.
In a large bowl add the kale, the avocado, and some salt and pepper. Massage the avocado into the kale until it is soft, about 3 minutes.
Toss with the raspberries and chopped nuts.
Swirl with raspberry vinegar.

Notes

If you don’t have raspberry vinegar, balsamic or red wine vinegars would work wonderfully as well.
Add quinoa, grilled chicken, or bacon for some additional protein.

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FACT: Bears eat beets. Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

Sometimes (63ish% of the time) when I think of beets, I think of The Office, then bears and Battlestar Galactica. Gosh, I miss that show.

The Office, not Battlestar Galactica.

On a different, but somewhat similar note: I have never roasted beets before. It always seemed kind of intimidating: the long greens, the tough skin, the intense color. It’s just… a lot.

About a month ago I met some girlfriends for dinner and wine. We ate some delicious roasted beets (among other things) and began talking about how much we all loved beets… and Brussels spouts and wine.

Ever since that night I’ve just had beets on my mind. Beets. Beets. Beets. I must try to roast them myself. What do I have to lose? It can’t be that hard, right?!

Right. It’s not. It’s not hard at all.

Scrub them. Foil them. Roast them. Peel them. Chop them. Eat them. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Last night I hosted the same girlfriends from the earlier beet discussion over for dinner. When trying to figure out what I was going to make for dinner I knew I had to do something with beets. I then recalled this gorgeous Strawberry Kale Salad that I came across last week during my nightly blog reading and knew it would be perfect.

I mean, savory granola?! Why the heck did I not know about this earlier? And then putting in salad?! Brilliant. And don’t even get me started on radishes.

I swapped the beets for the strawberries and made some other minor tweaks. I served it with some baguette bread and a bottle of Trapiche that one of the girls brought over. It was a delicious time full of excellent conversation.

Kale Salad with Roasted Beets and Spicy Granola

A raw kale salad with radishes, asparagus, and roasted beets. It's tossed with spicy granola and a lemon tahini dressing and topped with goat cheese. A delicious light and healthy dinner for a beautiful spring evening.

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For the salad:

8 oz kale, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups radishes, chopped
2 cups roasted beets, chopped
1 cup asparagus, chopped
1 oz goat cheese, crumbled

For the spicy granola:

1 ¼ cup old-fashioned oats
½ cup shelled pistachios
½ cup almonds
½ cup walnuts, roughly chopped
½ cup sunflower seeds
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp cayenne pepper
1 egg white, beaten
¼ cup olive oil
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp honey

For the lemon tahini dressing:

1 ½ tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp honey
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp sea salt

Instructions

To roast the beets: Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Trim the beet greens and scrub the beets with a brush. Drizzle them with olive oil (or water), sprinkle with salt and pepper, and wrap in tin foil. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 50-60 minutes. Unwrap the beets from the foil and let them sit until they are cool enough to handle. Use a paper towel to gently peel away the skin. Chop and store in the refrigerated until needed.
To make the spicy granola: Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl combine the oats, pistachios, almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. In a small bowl mix together the egg white, olive oil, tahini, and honey. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until combined, making sure that all the dry ingredients are moistened. Spread the mixture onto a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 17 minutes, stirring halfway through. Let the granola cool, then break it apart, and store in a container.
To make the lemon tahini dressing: Whisk all the ingredients together until combined or put all the ingredients in a jar and shake vigorously.
To assemble the salad: Put the kale in a large salad bowl. Add the olive oil and some salt and pepper; massage it into the kale (this helps it become more tender). Let sit for 15 minutes then toss in the dressing and remaining vegetables. Top with a cup of the granola and the crumbled goat cheese. Serve and enjoy.

Notes

-The roasted beets can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerated for up to one week.
-Cooking time for the bests will vary depending on the size. My smaller beets took 50 minutes, whereas the larger took 60 minutes. They are done when you can easily pierce them with a fork.
-The spicy granola can also be made in advance and stored in an air tight container.
-Raw, unsalted nuts and seeds will work best for this granola. However, I did used salted sunflower seeds because I happened to have them on hand.

Slightly adapted from Cookie and Kate’s Strawberry Kale Salad With Nutty Granola Croutons.

Reading a variety of wonderful blogs such as Cookie and Kate is such a great source of inspiration to me. This salad was inspired by something of Kate’s, which was inspired by something of Deb’s from Smitten Kitchen. People inspiring people inspiring people. It’s a beautiful and continuous cycle that leads to a lot of delicious things.

jenna.faye.ivey