Crunchy Kale Salad

I cannot tell you how much I value Pinterest. My girlfriend Erin had tried to get me on Pinterest for a while. I kept telling her that the last thing I had time for was Pinterest. Well, I finally caved in and am so glad I did. Although I spend WAY TOO MUCH time on it, I have found so many great things that I hope to try eventually some day (it may even be 10 years from now :-) ). I was browsing through the recipes (so I can bring them to you), and found a beautiful looking kale salad pinned from www.userealbutter.com. I HAD to try it and it was soooo delish, I had to share it with you. I changed up the recipe just a little to make it more to my personal taste so I encourage you to also change it up for your tastebuds too.

This salad isn't totally raw but as I've stated before, not everything I eat is totally raw. However as you can see, this salad has A LOT of raw veggies in it.

Crunchy Kale Salad

2 cups kale, sliced thinly
1 cup green cabbage, shredded
1 cup red cabbage, shredded
1 cup broccoli slaw (I have only found broccoli slaw at Whole Foods)
1/2 cup carrots, shredded (because the broccoli slaw doesn't have enough carrots for me)
1 Granny Smith apple, cored and juliened
1 1/2 oz box raisins (the small snack size)
1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped (or cranberries)
1 cup dry roasted almonds, coarsly chopped

Combine all ingredients in a bowl (that's easy enough, right?) :-)

Dressing

Juice from 1 orange
1/2-1 TBLS maple syrup (depending on how sweet you want it)
3 TBLS tahini
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1/4 tsp xanthan gum (I like my dressing a little thicker. If you don't like it thick, then omit the xanthan gum)
1/2 cup EVOO or other favorite oil


Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl (or you can blend them in a food processor). Slowly whisk in (or blend in) the EVOO in a light stream until all oil is incorporated and dressing is emulsified.

Add as much of the dressing to the salad as you'd like. I actually added ALL of the dressing and realized I probably could have gotten away with using half the dressing. The nice thing about this salad is that you can dress it and stick it in the fridge for a few days. It doesn't wilt quickly because you are using sturdier greens.

Here was my dinner for tonight:

I enjoyed a heaping serving of Crunchy Kale Salad with a Quinoa/Cauliflower Timbale. Mmmmmm....