Kale. Kale is exploding from most of the farmer’s markets that I’ve been going to this past month, and I know that there will be more and more for the next few months. I know that kale was in everything for a long time, then everyone said, “oh no…don’t eat too much kale!!”. So here’s the deal. Let’s eat this superfood, because it IS a superfood. I’m not going to put it in every smoothie or cook it at every meal, but we do eat a lot of kale. And my kids love it when it’s prepared well!
Why should we eat it? Kale is high in iron, calcium, and even has some good protein. I’m always looking for good sources of calcium for my family, and they love it in kale chips (I’ll get that recipe up soon!) and cooked kale with pine nuts and raisins. It also has great antioxidants and is full of incredible amounts of vitamins. It has 684% of the daily value of vitamin K, 206% of the suggested daily amount of vitamin A, and 134% of vitamin C. And that’s in ONE CUP! I like the idea of having that in my family’s diet, and I bet you do too!
So here you go!
Here’s what you’ll need…
- 1 bunch fresh curly kale
- 2 drops lemon essential oil and 1 fresh lemon
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup slivered or crushed almonds
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 -2 avocados (we love avocados so 2 is a minimum for us!)
First, you’ll want to wash the kale and dry it well. I like to just tear it off in smaller chunks and throw it in the salad spinner. Secondly, you’ll want to put your almonds on a baking sheet and put them under the broiler in your oven for 2-5 minutes. Be sure to watch them and grab them out as soon as they start to brown.
Next, you’ll want to pour the olive oil and lemon/lemon essential oil over the kale and spend several minutes massaging the oil into the kale. It will diminish in size quite a bit, and you want to make sure that every piece is really good and oiled up! It should look something like this.
As always, you never want to use just any essential oil! If you want to see what oils I’ve landed with and learn more about them, click HERE.
Then you’ll want to sprinkle the nutritional yeast and salt in a couple of waves as you toss the salad. Don’t dump it on the top or it won’t spread well throughout the salad. It should look lightly coated like this.
Once you have those tossed, go ahead and squeeze some more freshly squeezed lemon over the top and add the almonds and avocados. And that’s it! Took me about 10 minutes to make this past week!
Ingredients
- 1 bunch curly kale
- 1 lemon
- Lemon Vitality essential oil
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/2 cup slivered or chopped almond
- 1-2 avocados
Instructions
- Tear up the kale into small chunks and wash and dry them
- Put almonds in the oven and broil for 2-5 minutes (watch them closely)
- Pour olive oil and 2 drops lemon vitality essential oil over the kale (can sub 1/2 freshly squeezed lemon)
- Massage the oils into the kale for several minutes
- Lightly toss the salt and nutritional yeast into the salad
- Top with avocados and almonds