I made this salad today for lunch, and it was SO good! I highly recommend that you try it. Even my six year old couldn’t resist the yummy smells coming out of the kitchen, and enjoyed a bowl of the finished product with her lunch. Not sure you like quinoa? Do you like rice? I think it really has the same texture as rice, but it’s so much more nutritious, and high in protein, too! BONUS! Not sure you like kale? I found a giant bag of ‘baby’ kale at Costco, and it’s much more tender and mild. Good for adding to salads, or sautes…quite nice.
Anyway, back to my salad. It’s a New Year! If you’re working on a New You…then you’ll want to incorporate some New Foods! 😀
Kale & Quinoa Salad (makes 6 servings)
2 Cups of water
1 Cup of quinoa
6-8 loosely-packed cups of kale
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 garlic clove (minced)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 C. Almond pieces or slivers
3/4 C. dried cranberries
1/2 C. reduced fat feta cheese
Directions
- Bring water to a boil in a saucepan. Stir quinoa into the boiling water, reduce heat to medium-low, place cover on the saucepan, and cook until water absorbs into the quinoa, about 15 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat and let rest covered for 5 minutes. Remove cover and allow quinoa to cool completely.
- Put kale in a large mixing bowl.
- Whisk olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic, pepper, and salt together in a bowl until oil emulsifies into the mixture; drizzle over kale. Add cooled quinoa, almonds, cranberries, and feta cheese to the dressed kale and toss to incorporate.
Nutritional Information: 297 calories, 12 g. fat, 11 g. protein per serving
