Kickbutt Kale Salad with Honey Ginger Dressing

Kale is packed full of nutrition. This leafy green is high in vitamin C and K, provides calcium, and offers antioxidants. According to the Choose Healthy Food website, kale helps to strengthen bones, combat cancer, protects your eyesight, aids in weight loss, and boosts the immune system. Add in healthy brain-building fats from avacado and nuts, plus all the goodness that I already mentioned honey offers, and you’ve got exactly what a busy (not to mention still nursing) mama like me needs. What most people need, actually.

I found this recipe on Pinterest, from the What’s Cooking Good Looking blog. Now, I didn’t usually put much effort into a salad to go with a meal, but I have been finding that all the little touches can turn a boring salad into a delicious dish. Let me tell you, this salad may seem like more work than a simple green salad, but it is totally worth the effort. The original recipe is quite a bit more time consuming than my version, since time is very precious with a growing toddler and all the many things on my to do list.

This is what I changed about the recipe to make things easier:

• Instead of whole almonds, I started with slivered almonds. These are almost all cut up already, so giving an extra little chop is pretty quick and easy.

• I did not use a fancy little pan to lightly toast the almonds and sesame seeds. Who has time for that? If it makes a big difference (which I kind of doubt), I’m still fine with a slightly inferior salad that was easier, made less dishes and still tastes friction delicious.

• Chop chickpeas? No thanks. In, whole and rinsed from the can, they go.

• I didn’t take the time to gently massage the dressing into the kale leaves. I need a massage, not my salad. If there’s time to massage kale at some point in my life, I might try it, but again: it’s already delicious.

What you need:

• 4 cups kale
• Can of chickpeas
• 2 green onions
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1 avacado

Plus, for the dressing:

• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1/2″ piece of ginger, peeled and minced
• Pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper.

What you do:

1. Chop the kale fairly fine. Chop the green onions, avacado, and almonds. Throw this all in a bowl.

3. Open up a can of whoopa chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans) and put as many of these in as you like. Toss in the sesame seeds.

2. Mix together the oil, apple cider vinegar, honey, grated ginger, salt and pepper. Pour over salad.

3. Mix and eat this delicious kale salad.

This is just the most delicious salad. It’s so nice when you can really enjoy something that’s so good for you.

For another scrumptious salad, check out this recipe. There is bacon (with vegetarian and vegan options). Need I say more?