Trinity | Trinityskitchen
Kale is undoubtedly one amazing vegetable! Per gram it gives us over 16% more calcium than cow’s milk and over twice as much vitamin C than oranges. As well as hosting a power house full of vitamins and minerals, it also has a whole bunch of beneficial healing properties. Numerous studies suggest that kale is high in anti-oxidants; has excellent anti-inflammatory properties and has anti-cancer nutrients (in the form of glucosinolates).
There are many varieties of kale growing all year round. In the winter we tend to see more hardy, bitter varieties in abundance; whilst in the summer, the more tender types seems to thrive. They are all welcomed warmly in my cuisine, for sure and I am thankful for whatever comes my way. One of my favourite ways to eat kale is in salad, tossed into a big medley of juicy cherry tomatoes, cooling cucumber, sweet bell pepper and whatever else is around.
Some interesting kale facts…
Summer Kale Salad
Here’s one of my favourite salad blends that I just love to serve along with a delicious hemp oil salad dressing. Use my recipe for inspiration, but make the most of whatever you have available at the time. This serves so nicely with hummus (see my Roasted Red Pepper Hummus recipe for ideas).
Serves: 1 – 2
- Couple of handfuls of kale
- Small handful of cherry tomatoes
- Half a yellow sweet bell pepper
- 5 to 10 dried black olives
- Half a ripe avocado
- A few slices of cucumber
- Handful of pea shoots (if available)
- Few basil leaves (optional)
- Edible summer flowers like nasturtiums
(if available)
How to prepare:
- Make sure there aren’t any tough stalks on your kale (tender stalks are fine – I always toss them into the salad) and roughly chop.
- De-seed bell pepper and chop in to small pieces.
- Half your avocado; cut squares into the avocado flesh, whilst still in the shell and then scoop into salad bowl along with all other ingredients.
- Dress with your favorite salad dressing OR enjoy my ‘Hemp & Parsley Salad Dressing’ below. It is delicious!
Hemp & Parsley Salad Dressing
If I am going to the effort of making a salad dressing, I like to make a bit of a batch, so that I can enjoy it on my salads all week long. I love to use cold pressed hemp oil in my dressings because it is super nutritious and has an impressive blend of essential fats. If you do buy hemp oil, it’s important to find a good quality one – both for taste and nutritional benefits (same goes for all oils actually). I also use other oils too. This salad dressing would work well with sunflower or olive oil.
- 150ml cold pressed hemp oil
- 75ml apple cider vinegar
- 1 large clove of garlic
- 1 heaped teaspoon of organic mustard
(the ready made type in a jar) - 1 handful of fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon of tamari/shoyu (or 1/2 teaspoon sea salt)
- Dash of maple syrup/rice syrup or apple juice concentrate
How to make salad dressing:
The best way to make this is to blend all these ingredients together for a few seconds in a jug with a hand blender or to use a regular blender. Alternatively you can crush the garlic, finely chop the parsley and give it a really good whisk with a fork. I prefer to blend this one; to get everything to infuse together quickly. Blending gives it a bit of rapid pazzazz whilst helping it all hold together without separating, for much longer.
So, please enjoy and do let me know how you get on. I love hearing new ideas and all about your fresh inspiration.
♥ Trinity
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