This kale salad is the perfect way to start the weekend off right and will give you the kick start you need to stay focused on your fitness goals… and it’s delicious too!

Weekend Glow Kale Salad

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1/2 large head of kale (about 4-6 cups)
• 1 cup finely chopped red onion
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1/2-3/4 cup chopped carrot (2 small carrots)
• 1 English cucumber (2 cups chopped halves)
• 1 avocado, chopped
• 1 & 1/4 cup chopped grape tomatoes (or other variety)
• 1/2 cup mixed raisins and Goji berries
• 1/4 cup hemp seed
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Dressing:

• 1 batch of Lighten Up Tahini Dressing
• Your desired fresh or dried herbs

Directions:

1. Chop vegetables and mix in a large mixing bowl. Reserve hemp seed and walnuts for sprinkling on top.

2. Make your Lightened Up tahini-Lemon Dressing in a food processor and process until smooth.

3. Tear the leaves off of the kale and rip into bite-sized pieces. Wash and dry kale leaves.

4. Mix the vegetables, kale leaves, and full batch of dressing (3/4-1 cup) in large bowl until thoroughly combined.

5. Place in fridge to ‘marinate’ for 10-15 minutes. Serves 4. Keeps in fridge in a sealed container for 1 day.

FOR THE LEMON-TAHINI DRESSING:

• 1 large garlic clove
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 3 to 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast, to taste
• 3 to 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Prepare the Lemon-Tahini Dressing: Mince the garlic in a mini food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients and process until smooth.

3 tips for preparing raw kale:

1. Remove the stems when you plan on eating it raw (and some people remove the stems for cooking too-it’s personal preference). The stems are the bitter part of the plant. I used to always use the stems and wonder why my kale salads tasted ridiculously bitter. Now I just use the leaves and it always turns out wonderful to the palate.

2. Massage the dressing into the leaves and let it ‘marinate’ for at least 10-15 minutes. A kale salad tastes best when the dressing has had a chance to soak into the leaves. This also helps soften the leaves which is especially important if you are using the curly variety. You don’t want it scratching your throat!

3. If you really don’t like curly kale, try Dinosaur (Lacinato) kale as it is less

Enjoy!!!

-Danielle

For more amazingly glowing recipes check out https://ohsheglows.com/

photo credit ohsheglows.com