Happy first day of summer! Summery things I did today include:

Going hiking with Harley…

…and thoroughly enjoying this dinner on my patio this evening…

Lightly fried zucchini + beefsteak tomato + cheddar + horseradish mustard = one bangin’ grilled cheese. I was craving grilled cheese all day, and this guy totally hit the spot. I refrained from eating a second one… though I easily could have!

And now onto more yummy eats…

Recently I had a blogger date with Gina, the chick behind Health, Love and Chocolate. We met for lunch, and while we were both enjoying kale caesar salads, I started talking about how I’m a pretty new kale eater. I told her I feel confident that I can whip up a yummy kale salad now, but that I like the kale super tender and never seem to get it quite that way by letting the veggies marinade in the dressing. My lovely new kale guru friend said that the best way to tenderize the kale is to massage it with the dressing for a good 5 minutes. Hmmm, why have I never tried that before? I wondered, and yesterday I put her tip to the test.

The word Goddess refers to femininity, charm and supernatural powers. Isn’t the bursting purple color from this flowering kale gorgeous, and does kale not offer a slew of health benefits (read: supernatural powers) to those who consume it?

General rule of thumb: any food this naturally vibrant is bursting with goodness (besides the exception of poisonous berries or some other shenanigans). Any who, the word “Goddess” seemed fitting to me, and so a Goddess kale salad it shall be referred to as.

After chopping a couple cups of kale up, I drizzled a dressing of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and fresh lemon juice on top, sprinkled sea salt on top, and massaged it for a bit.

Massaging the kale totally worked and left the veggie perfectly to my liking. Anyone who is turned off by kale because of its toughness, try massaging it – it really does the trick!

I added a few cups of green leaf lettuce, chickpeas, toasted slivered almonds, creamy goat cheese, and dates, to make one DELICIOUS combination. The goat cheese added a tang to the salad, the dates provided some sweetness, the almonds gave it a crunch, and the chickpeas… well, I throw chickpeas in nearly everything because they’re my favorite. I munched on this salad for about an entire hour while I worked, and will definitely be making it again very soon!

Goddess Kale Salad

Foodie Loves Fitness

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Prep Time 10

Total Time 10

Servings

Calories 500 kcal

Ingredients

2 cups kale chopped
2 cup green leaf or other type of lettuce chopped
2 TBSP slivered almonds toasted
1/2 cup chickpeas drained and rinsed
1 oz goat cheese
40 g whole pitted dates about 6 of them
1/2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
Juice from 1/2 small lemon
Sea salt to taste

Instructions

Place kale in a salad bowl.
Whisk together olive oil, balsamic and lemon juice. Pour over kale, and sprinkle a touch of sea salt on top. Massage the kale for a good couple of minutes to tenderize it.
Add green leaf lettuce, almonds, chickpeas, goat cheese and dates. Sprinkle additional sea salt to taste, and toss to combine well.