Kale Salad

I am making this tomorrow but I am parked comfortably in front of my computer listening to the Billy Club radio show so I am ready to keep rolling.

Kale is one of my favorite greens, both red and green varieties. Its heavy and its full. It makes iceberg lettuce looks so fucking sad and paltry in comparison. Plus its good for you. Wikipedia says:

"Kale is considered to be a highly nutritious vegetable with powerful antioxidant properties; kale is considered to be anti-inflammatory. Kale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in calcium. Because of its high vitamin K content, patients taking anti-coagulants such as warfarin are encouraged to avoid this food since it increases the vitamin K concentration in the blood, which is what the drugs are often attempting to lower. Kale, as with broccoli and other brassicas, contains sulforaphane (particularly when chopped or minced), a chemical believed to have potent anti-cancer properties."

I use a whole bunch of green kale for this recipe which is stolen and modified from the whole foods cafe.

Wash kale twice and chop roughly
Cherry tomatoes cut in half
Dried cranberries
1/4 c. pine nuts, chopped walnuts or pecans
Thinly sliced red onion (I just omit this)
Juice of 1-2 Lemons- need at least 4 tbls
Olive Oil 1/4 c.
Salt
Pepper

To chop the Kale, I roll each leaf and cut across, you can always just tear it up by hand too. Remember though, you don't want all the nutrients bleeding out so try to do this as close to eating as you can.
Dump in the tomatoes, cranberries, nuts and onion, toss all.

I make the dressing separately in a covered tupperware.
I like it a little heavier on the lemon, add lemon juice (roll out the lemon on the counter/table top first, cut in half then squeeze, use a fork to get it all out if needed) oil and salt and pepper to tupperware, shake and toss on the salad.

You will probably need to double the measurements of the dressing to get enough to cover a whole bunch of kale.

If you are allergic to nuts you can use roasted, salted sunflower seeds instead of the pine nuts.

Sadie loves kale, she and I share this often. This is a delicious little power house of a salad.