Kale is undergoing a bit of a reinvention at the moment. It’s ‘in’, it’s sexy, it’s on trend. This dark leafy green is the thing that apparently everyone should be eating and I would have to absolutely agree, I love it! Even though I’ve eaten kale before it became the ‘holy grail’ in the healthy living world up until recently it’s never really been my first choice. Usually, spinach would be my number one all-round dark leafy green for my smoothies, curries, stews…everything. But not anymore, I’ve fallen head over heels (I agree a little strong!) with kale.
I treat it exactly the same way as I would spinach, but it struck me the other day that I rarely use it as a salad leaf, for which my go-to seems to be rocket on repeat. When the kale is massaged with lemon juice tenderises the leaves transforming them into a delicate leaf, perfect for salads.
- 1 butternut squash
- 1 swede
- 4 cups red or brown rice
- 6 cups curly kale
- 1 cup pecan nuts
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
- 1/3 cup feta cheese
- juice of 1 lemon
- juice of 1 lemon
- 3 tbsp tahini
- seasonings
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Preheat the oven to 190 degrees, prepare and chop the swede and butternut squash and roast in a little coconut oil until cooked through.
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Meanwhile, cook the rice as per the packet instructions, drain and allow to cool.
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Take the kale and pour the lemon juice and massage with your hands. Mix together the ingredients for the dressing.
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In a large bowl mix all of the salad ingredients together and pour over the dressing.
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Serve as it is a main or as a side. Enjoy!
Think earthy kale, nutty red rice and sweet and sour flavours from the dried cranberries and pomegranate seeds – all of which make one tasty salad! Full of wholesome goodness makes this salad really hearty and stands alone really well as a main or even as a side dish.
Any leftover meat from your Sunday roast or your Christmas dinner? Throw that into the mix to change-up the flavour and add a different texture. Also, if you haven’t got any red rice (Camargue), need not to worry, simply use brown wholegrain rice that still has that nutty flavour that works so well here.
Kale: yay or neigh?
How do you like to use up your leftover turkey or meat from your Christmas dinner?
**sponsored by Nature Supplies, but all content and opinions are my own
This looks absolutely delicious. I really love adding nuts to my salad. I think my all time favorite is pecans and strawberries on top!
Love the sound of strawberries in a salad, yum! I like adding nuts in too for some added crunch and texture.
This salad looks so healthy and delicious, a definite winner:-)
Thank you, Camilla!
Looks delicious! I love hearty salads like this with good carbs and crunchy nuts 🙂 Love the colour the dried cranberries and pomegranate add.
Me too Nadia! You can’t beat a hearty salad full of your favourite things. 🙂
This looks incredible Jemma. I love the feta sprinkled on top too. I am such a big fan of kale, as there is so much that you can do with it.
Thanks Dannii, feta is one of my favourite salad add-ins. I put on nearly every salad I eat.
This looks delicious! Some fab inspiration here xx
Thanks Emily! 🙂
I often makes a salad like this and love kale in it although I have started to blanch it for a few seconds which I find takes the edge off the chewiness. Gorgeous plates too!
I’m also a huge kale fan and have been long people it became the “IT” veg. Can’t complain though my Asda now stocks HUGE bags almost as big as me!!! Not sure who is getting through that much kale in a week mind you… This salad looks fantastic. It’s got so many of my favourite things. Thanks for sharing 🙂
This looks lovely, I do enjoy a winter salad and I’m sure a handful of left over turkey would be perfect here.
Thanks for the salad recipes. Normally, I use romaine and spinach for my salads. I will have introduce kale.
I just adore anything with feta in it. The sharpness and saltiness of it matches so well with sweet fruits like you have in this salad, yum!
This salad looks really good, just look at those colours! Definitely making this in the future.
I’m not the biggest fan of kale and don’t understand what the craze is about but this salad looks yummy.
Butternut Squash makes EVERYTHING taste amazing, even Kale. Ha! I don’t really care for Kale, but if it’s with the delicious B Squash…. I will GOBBLE IT DOWN!
Your salads always look so nice, healthy, yummy and colourful!
Thanks so much Laureen! 🙂
Love a winter salad especially with Kale!