As far as grubbing down goes, I am pretty maxed out. We have been going out every night and my outfits are getting more and more desperate (and elastic). What is it about these long Holiday weekends and the CRAZY eating? Or is it just me….
We have had so much fun hanging out with friends and family, and even just to have Pete home for 4 days is rare and amazing- we have really enjoyed it. I feel like it was a long needed mini vacation for our whole family. And two of the days we did nothing but lie about the house and the sunny back yard and read books and veg. It was heaven.
But lets get real. If I keep eating like I have been, I won’t have any pants left soon. So here comes the well promised Kale salad.
Another note about kale. I don’t like it. At least, not much. But I have really learned to enjoy it raw in a salad. The crunchiness of the leaves makes for great salad and I like how the leaves are so strong and hearty that they don’t wilt with the dressing. They can hold their own, you know? That makes it so that I can save leftovers in Tupperware and it is actually edible the next day.
I have been using a lot of the curly kale from Trader Joes. I just pick through it and remove all of the stems and tough parts and keep the tender curly leaves. But Anyone growing kale in their summer garden probably has a crazy supply ready for harvest. And this wonderful Sesame Dressing and the sweet bell peppers really make this kale salad fresh and delicious. A little grilled chicken would be great too. This will definitely be what I am having for dinner today…
To make this Asian Kale Salad with Sesame Dressing, this is what you do:
In a large bowl combine the curly kale leaves, bell pepper, green onions and cucumber.
In a small bowl combine the ingredients for the Sesame Dressing and whisk them together with a fork.
Toss the salad and serve immediately.
Recipe: Asian Kale Salad with Sesame Dressing
Ingredients
- 8 cups curly kale leaves, stems removed, torn into bite sized pieces
- 1 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper
- 1 cup thinly sliced yellow bell pepper
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 small cucumber (I used Persian) thinly sliced
- Sesame Dressing
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 3 teaspoons agave
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoons sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons finely grated ginger
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine the curly kale leaves, bell pepper, green onions and cucumber.
- In a small bowl combine the ingredients for the Sesame Dressing and whisk them together with a fork.
- Toss the salad and serve immediately.
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 4
So pretty! I love this asian twist and it is perfect for a healthy side or light summer lunch or dinner. Yum!
This salad sounds PERFECT! Love the asian inspiration with the kale 🙂
Gorgeous, gorgeous salad!!
I want this for lunch!
This salad looks beautiful~but
I just can not get myself to try kale.I would use something else like broccoli slaw?Maybe I should break down and try the culy leaf from TJ’S.
🙂
Sally- you will have nothing to regret but one bag of kale from TJ’s! It is so worth trying it. I just couldn’t get on board for YEARS until I just tried eating it like a crunchy raw salad (um, with dressing) the chicken cesar salad wrap is what changed my mind 🙂
Loving the Asian spin on this!!
It definitely is not just you! Long weekends are like a road trip-anything goes! This salad looks delicious. FYI, the kid checking me out at Trader Joe’s had a good chuckle when he watched me going through the chocolate looking for the bar used in those incredible sounding cookies of your’s so I told him why. He’s probably a new fan of your site now!
Heather – I received your book recently and immediately read the whole thing in one sitting. It’s absolutely gorgeous and your spirit really shines through each and every page. The colors are beautiful and I appreciate how you weave your values and love of family and friends through it. It reminded me what I love about hosting and entertaining – and it made me go out and buy the pink napkins I have been wanting 🙂
I have been wondering how do you do it all??? I was reading with great admiration all of the things you cooked for your 4th of July Celebration!!! Do you have help? I love to prepare lots of different things, decorate, do my own flowers, make cocktails etc however come the day of I often feel like I try to do too much. Any tips??? 🙂
I LOVE this!!! This is definitely what i need after a long weekend of eating badly 🙂
Love the Asian twist; that vinaigrette sounds tangy and perfect.
As always, you put together a beautiful salad, Heather. If anyone is still shy about eating kale, may I suggest trying the bagged “baby” kale first? Its widely available here in the Northeast and is a bit less kale-y than the mature leaves.
Great salad Heather! My husband is a kale salad fanatic, I’ll surprise him with this one!
@Sally just make sure to pick through the kale and take off all the big stems. It should be great delish.
I like the baby kale a lot. The big stuff needs to be chopped fine in my opinion. My husband hates kale so I make a really good dressing like this to get him to eat it!
Abbe, Kim and Sally- the baby kale is great! And Abbe- I like the big stuff chopped finely as well, and admittedly I love dressing all over my kale as well!
LOVE this healthy & colorful salad…
Looks so good!
I had never eaten kale and I’m in my early 60’s. Finally, I tried it about 2 weeks ago. Can’t get enough. Made a variation of this recipe and it was amazing. Became addicted to it and ate it for 4 days. Lost 3 lbs that week as well.
Awesome Alice!! Make sure you check out the other kale salad recipes I have, you mike like those too!
Looks like a great light summer salad!
im trying out yur recipe for salad, watchin our intake?…we consume kale, in juice form not in salad…thx for sharing!…