Kale harmony salad with fridge & pantry favorites

Salads give you perfect opportunities to use up your favorite things in the pantry and the fridge in spring/summer and create unexpected taste & flavor combinations – bitter, sweet, tangy, sharp, salty, crunchy, soft, bouncy, chewy… it’s like creating your own harmony salads.

The base is usually kale, either massaged or as is (baby kale), and then a whole lot of things are being mixed in depending on what’s available. In this case, aging figs (purchased 4 days ago), relatively fresh apricot (2 days), mix of beans cooked 3 days ago, baby golden beets (5 days ago), pumpkin seeds, feta cheese, and whatever fresh herbs available (usually mint, basil, or cilantro). If there are left-over grilled fish or meat, they usually go in as a topping. As in my previous post on “anytime salad“, the combination possibilities are endless.

This may make the salad sound rather dull, but actually, it’s quite refreshing and satisfying. So, go experiment with things you might not have mixed in salad before!

Kale harmony salad

Kale salad with golden beets, beans, figs, apricots, pumpkin seeds, feta cheese and herbs.

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Servings 2 people

Calories 563 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 5 oz baby kale This time I used a bag of baby kale.
• 2 piece baby golden beet thinly sliced and soaked in salt water for 15 min.
• 3 oz cooked bean mixed of black, kidney, and pinto beans
• 1 piece apricot
• 4 piece mission fig
• 1 oz feta cheese
• 1 oz mint
• 1 oz basil
• 2 tbsp pumpkin seed lightly roasted. Sliced almonds or walnuts will go well together as well.
• 2 tbsb olive oil for dressing
• 1 clove garlic pressed, for dressing
• 1 tbsp lemon juice from about 1/2 of lemon; for dressing
• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar reduction for dressing
• 1/2 tsp salt for dressing
• 2 tsp dijon mustard for dressing
• 1 tsp maple syrup honey or brown sugar will work as well
• 1 tsp red pepper flake for dressing

Instructions

 

• Wash kale and dry well, and massage if needed. This time I used a bag of baby kale, so used it after washing/drying.
• Peel and thinly slice (baby) golden beets and soak in a light salt water for 15 min., drain, and towel dry.
• Lightly toast (about 3-5 minutes) pumpkin seeds.
• Put kale and beets in a large bowl. Slice apricot/figs and crumble feta cheese over the kale/beet mix. Add in drained beans, toasted pumpkin seeds, and herbs (this time, mint and basis leaves.)
• Make dressing and toss: mix olive oil, lemon juice, pressed garlic, salt, red pepper flake, dijon mustard, and maple syrup, close the rid and shake vigorously. Cradle the salad ingredients with the dressing.
• Serve as is or with additional protein – this one uses left-over barbecue chicken pieces.
  

Nutrition

Calories: 563kcalCarbohydrates: 81gProtein: 12gFat: 24gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 13mgSodium: 917mgPotassium: 1165mgFiber: 8gSugar: 27gVitamin A: 9300IUVitamin C: 105mgCalcium: 318mgIron: 6mg

Keyword apricot, beans, feta cheese, fig, golden beets, kale, pumpkin seeds

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