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Friday, October 18, 2013

Kale Salad

My husband recently decided to go on a health kick (note that this was not my choice...I continue to have nightly servings of cookies n' cream ice cream), and he's suggested that it would be good for all of us to eat more vegetables.  When this occurs (as it typically does once every couple of years), it generally results in me cooking and eating more vegetables, and my hubby complaining that he doesn't like my cooking.  You see, my hubby does not actually *like* vegetables; he just likes the idea of liking them.  I cook the vegetables along with some other tastier (READ: unhealthy) items, and he eats the tasty items and avoids the vegetables.  Go figure. 

And...getting to the point.  Hubby's health kick has lead me on a mission to find recipes for seasonal vegetables.  This involves purchasing vegetables that I have no clue how to prepare, searching for directions on what to do with said vegetables, and hoping that my husband and toddler will at least pretend to enjoy them.  This week's victims were a rather large butternut squash and two heads of kale (The lovely Asian lady at the farmer's market convinced me to purchase both heads of kale.  She was selling them at a cost of $2/head, or $3 for 2 heads.  I can't pass up a bargain, and it's a "superfood," right?). 

With my car full of vegetables that I could barely identify, I headed home to do something with them.  My friend Meg had recently described this awesome kale salad that she created based on a salad served at a local restaurant.  Her recipe used toasted pine nuts (which would be wonderful) and feta cheese (can't go wrong there), but I did not have either of those on hand.  Since going to the grocery with two children under the age of three in tow is never exciting to me, I decided to use what I had in the refrigerator.  I used one full head of kale, and ate almost the bowl of salad in one sitting.  YUM.

Although I chopped everything by hand this time, the next time I make this I will likely make good use of my food processor.  I would start by pulsing the parsley until it was minced, and then add the kale and pulse several times.  Pour in the dressing ingredients (mixed together first) and pulse several times more to combine, and then stir in the nuts and cheese.

Sorry about the lack of pictures; I made this and the Butternut Squash Macaroni and Cheese together, and they were both so tasty that they were gone before I remembered to photograph them!

Ingredients:
1 head kale, chopped finely
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped finely
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese

For the dressing:
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. honey
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup olive oil
pepper to taste

Directions:
Mix everything together and enjoy!  Ideally, I would mix the dressing ingredients separately (a stick blender works great for this), and then add it to the greens.  I like this salad best at room temperature, and it's really good served with seared fish.

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