Happy St. Patty's + Citrus Kale Salad

Posted: March 18, 2012

Top 'o the mornin' to ya.  We had a wonderful St Patty's day spending hours and hours outside together - starting with a bit of yardwork (cutting down the Karl Forester grasses for the year so the new growth can start coming up).  We had some water table fun, then went for a long walk around the lake near our house, and played at the playground for-ever... for-ev-er... (name that movie, and I'll be super impressed!!  Think early 90s).  When we got home for lunch I came up with a DELICIOUS kale salad!

Here's the recipe for Citrus Kale Salad:

Ingredients:

  • about 3 large leaves of kale (no stems)
  • 1/2 a lemon (juice only)
  • 1/2 an apple, diced - I used HoneyCrisp
  • 1/2 an orange bell pepper, diced
  • 1/4 cup pineapple, diced
  • 1/4 cup of smashed sea-salt almonds
  • dressing: 1/2 Tbsp olive oil + 1 Tbsp orange juice

Directions:

  • cut Kale into small nickel-ish-sized pieces
  • squeeze half a lemon over the kale pieces
  • toss in diced apples, peppers, and pineapple
  • drizzle the oil & orange juice over it
  • mix with a fork
  • sprinkle almonds on top
  • enjoy!!!

This really was sooooo refreshing and tasty! Here's the chopped Kale before anything else was added:

Here's the tossed salad with everything except the sprinkled almonds:

And here's the final product... voila!


You may be asking yourself, what's so special about Kale?  It is one of the healthiest vegetables on the planet, according to WebMD!  **UPDATE:  Besides the health-appeal of this salad, the other thing that makes it so special is that it keeps super well.  It does NOT get wilty like normal lettuce/spinach salad.  The kale stays crisp and bouncy.  This salad was JUST as good 3 days later as it was on its original debut.

Babycakes enjoyed some "Green" food as well.  Here she is eating a "Broccoli/Peas/Pear" pouch from Ella's Kitchen, sporting her green St. Patty's day Hello Kitty shirt.  She is just too cute, and look at those eyes!

I also spent some time putting together a pseudo "About" page.  Check it out here.

What did you enjoy for St. Patty's Day?  Do you have a specific healthy food that you use in lots of different recipes?

Can you name that movie quote?

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Comments

Submitted by Corrie Anne - March 19, 2012 - 1:00am

That's a beautiful salad!! I meant to make St.Patrick's food... but I settled for pistachio pudding and green fro-yo!! Haha.

Submitted by kelly - March 19, 2012 - 10:54am

You and Lauren BOTH had yummy fro-yo this weekend. I totally missed out!!

Submitted by Lauren @ Oatmeal after Spinning - March 19, 2012 - 7:42am

The Sandlot! Duh!!
(well, I hope I'm right before I say DUH)
I'm a little obsessed with kale. I just took a little break from it, because I was eating it every day (not that it's a bad thing, but other vegetables felt bad because they were getting neglected). But I bought a big bag of it yesterday, so kale is back on the menu!

Submitted by kelly - March 19, 2012 - 10:53am

Of course you're right :) I had some serious crushes on those guys back in 1992... ha! But seriously, back to vegetables... :) I saw you had a Japanese sweet potato the other night. Where does one buy such a sweet potato? And what makes it different from regular run o' the mill sweet potatoes?

Submitted by Kyra C - April 17, 2012 - 5:01pm

I love Kale and I am so excited to try this recipe! Thanks for sharing!

Submitted by April - June 12, 2012 - 2:32pm

Who knew you could love a salad without regular dressing?! The orange, lemon and olive oil is just right for this salad!

Submitted by kelly - June 12, 2012 - 2:34pm

I'm so glad you liked the salad! Yes, I find this salad/combo so refreshing &light; It's the perfect citrus blend... and a GREAT way to eat Kale.

Submitted by abbey - June 20, 2012 - 7:49pm

what are the nutritional facts for this ??

Submitted by kelly - June 21, 2012 - 12:54pm

Again, I'm not in the habit of counting calories, or fat, or anything. But, this should be fairly low fat / low calorie. The only "heavy" item in the salad is the olive oil, and it's a very small amount.

Submitted by Karen - March 5, 2013 - 10:42pm

Had never had kale before but love fruit so I decided to try this salad. I'm as picky as a 2 yr old but I absolutely LOVED this salad. Thank you for sharing and inspiring me.

Submitted by Jenn - May 25, 2013 - 7:12pm

Kelly,
I just tried this and OMG it was awesome. I actually went Paleo about three months ago and I have been hesitant to try Kale, this was the first time and it was delish! Thank you for sharing, you have a new faithful follower. :-)

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