Morning everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. We were here, there & everywhere the last few days with not a whole lot of cooking going on in this house, so I thought I'd share a great recipe to kick off your week on a healthy note (and to help detox any of those extra 'weekend calories'!)
Chicken & Kale Salad with Curried Peanut Dressing
(based on THIS recipe)
And it all started with this bundle of GREEENNNNNNN...
Kale can be a pretty tough vegetable and I usually either boil or bake it (into Kale CHIPS!). But there are a few things you can do to help turn those tough leaves into a delicate salad.
First, I strip the kale right off of the tough stems. Just run your hands up the stem and the leaves will peel right off...
Next, I pile a few leaves on top of one another...
....and chop them into THINNNNN slices....
Like so...
After all of the kale is thinly diced, I gave it a good rinse and kneaded the whole pile as if you were kneading bread dough. It really helps break down all the tough 'kale fibers.'
While I let the kale to lounge, I chopped up a few more goodies from my fridge to toss in the salad...
- 1 apple
- 1/2 cucumber
- 1/4 cabbage
- 2 shredded carrots
And whisked up the quick dressing...
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger (or fresh)
- 3 garlic cloves, diced
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon garam masala (or curry powder)
And the rest made for a quick marinade for the chicken breast...
We were about to toss the chicken on the grill, until the lightening & pouring rain made for OTHER plans....
After the chicken was cook through, I diced it up, tossed it on the dressed kale and CHOWED DOWN!
I'm tellin you, those few quick tricks and you would never know you were eating "rough kale," but rather a delicate lettuceJ. And the spiced peanut dressing made a nice compliment to the kale, cabbage, carrots, cucumber, chicken...and apple salad ;) hehehhehee....
I've been REALLY enjoying dinners like this, made with nearly ALL produce. Not only is it SUPER healthy and feels "clean," but this time of year, it is incredibly CHEAP with all of the great fresh fruits & vegetables available now! After a trip to the farmer's market this weekend, the ONLY item on my 'grocery' list was cream cheese! EVERY other ingredient for our meals this week came right from the market (or just a few remaining stragglers that we had in our fridge.....ummmm....where did you come from, English muffins??J) Can't beat seasonal, healthy and CHEAP! Hit up your local markets and see what goodies you can create.
Alright....I'm outta here! Have a great MondayJ.
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