Kale Salad for Staying Healthy?

On Monday, Jan posted about healthier eating. That's been on my mind as well. 1/3 of my students were out sick today, so I definitely am looking for healthier foods to hopefully ward off illness.

I've also been eating a lot of comfort and convenient food. The problem is, though it's convenient to make, and comforting to eat, it leads to a not so comfortable feeling when the clothes get tight and the stairs get harder to climb.

When your body starts balking at cookies and actually is craving green stuff - you know it's serious!

So tonight I decided to try something health(ier). I've actually been looking forward to it all day.

I started out with my go-to salad base - Glory kale that I blanched and chilled.

Next up - some leftover (takeout) beef brisket. I need the protein after a day with over 90 middle schoolers!



I saw frozen beets at the supermarket and decided to give them a try because beets seemed to go with steak in my salad!

Mandarin oranges - because all the sick kids means I need Vitamin C in megadoses.

Pomegranate arils - because I love any excuse to add them in. Love me some poms.

Some people think these are a lot of work, but honestly, it took me 5 minutes to turn this

into this

Sunflower seeds - I just love the crunch these give and they have a whole boatload of nutritional goodness. (How's that for being specific?) Also because my local store stopped carrying my favorite brand, so I ordered through Amazon. I guess I didn't read carefully enough because I got a huge bag with lots of smaller bags inside!

Confession time -  I added croutons because - well I love croutons and (mostly) everything else is healthy.

And - VOILÁ

And just in case that's not enough to ward off the assorted germs, I picked up this at the drugstore. Seemed worth a try!

Kale - the new Romaine

Facebook and Twitter have been full of so many funny memes this past week.

My favorite may be this:

Unfortunately, it's not really funny. From what I'm reading, this last round of recalls was the straw that broke the camel's back for many people. As much as they love salads, they're just not willing to risk getting a serious life-threatening illness.

So, I'm here to tell you, you don't have to forgo salad. Just try a different base.

I've been preaching the benefits of kale for years, but for those I haven't convinced yet, consider this. If you buy a bag of kale like Glory, you can blanch it and then use it as a base for a salad. It won't have quite the fresh crunch of Romaine, but it won't have e coli either.

I thought I'd share photos of a few of the kale salads I've shared over the years.

You can really just add any of the things you would normally add to your salad!

Mindy even did a post on Kale salad back in June.

So, have you given up on salad? Want to give Kale a try?

Or will you just stick with cake?


And from my family to yours...

My Favorite Kale Salad

Yes,  you read that right. I have a favorite kale salad. Now, it's no secret that our friend Cate Nolan loves kale. So today, I thought I'd revisit a kale slaw I discovered a few years back, just to show her that I'm not a kale hater. In reality, I really do like this salad, however it does take a little time to prep.

Here's what you'll need:

• 1 head kale, stems removed and sliced thin
• 1 large carrot, grated
• juice of one orange
• juice of half a lemon
• salt
• ground black pepper1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 red onion, sliced thin
•  1 slice bacon, cooked crisp and chopped 
• 1 rounded Tbsp. mayonnaise

Place the kale into a salad bowl.

Toss with carrot, orange juice, lemon juice, and salt. Using your hands, rub the acid into the kale. Basically, pretend you're giving it a massage. 

Set kale aside.

Prepare a large bowl of ice water and a saucepan with boiling water.

Place the sliced onion into the boiling water for 15-30 seconds.

Remove and immediately plunge into ice water to stop the cooking process. This removes the bitter taste of the raw onion.

Drain the water and blot the onions with a paper towel.

Add the onion, bacon, olive oil, salt, and pepper to kale and toss.

Add the mayonnaise and mix the slaw well.

Refrigerate until ready to serve. Can be made several hours in advance.

Just look at all those vibrant colors.

This is so yummy, y'all. That citrusy flavor lends just enough sweetness to make it addicting. Making it a perfect addition to your summer salad list. After all, IT HAS BACON! Now how could that be bad?

Here at the ranch, we are between grandkids. One left Sunday and the next group will be in just in time for the fourth. Can you believe it's already the 4th of July? Wasn't it just winter? I'm still working on my menu, so I'm hoping you'll tell me about some of your favorite 4th of July celebration dishes. 

Three time Carol Award finalist Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children and two dogs. She passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she's not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more a mindyobenhaus.com.

Chicken Orange Kale Salad

Yesterday Mindy gave you a delicious looking soup.  Today I'm bringing another winter salad.

This post is really short because it's been an absolutely crazy week here. Fortunately, on Sunday, I cooked some delicious chicken breasts.  You may remember that I'm not much of a fan of chicken, but I've learned recently, that some great herbs and garlic and good quality chicken can make a huge difference.


For this, I started with some boneless chicken breasts and I literally smothered them in my favorite herb mix with some garlic mixed in. 

I chilled it, sliced it thinly, and added to a bed of kale.

Then topped it with a delicious sliced Cara Cara orange.

SO refreshing and so little work.

Hope you're all having a better week!


LOLOL  I just went to schedule this and realized I'm giving you KALE for Valentine's Day. HAH! More than anything, that should explain my week.

A Winter Salad

It's the dead of winter here, and I've been craving something green and healthy.

But when we went to the green market last weekend, there was not much to be had. Compare these images with the thriving market of last summer.

The hardy farmers get credit for coming each week. So far the only day they closed was when the wind chills were well below zero and ice and snow were in the forecast.



You might notice the wool market. I'll bet that's popular in the winter.


















I'd read somewhere recently that kale was helpful in boosting your immune system. Given that I work in a school, a strong immune system is a particularly good thing.

So I had this idea.

I had a bag of Glory kale which I boiled briefly - just enough to take off the raw edge and make it more chewable. The kale is also hardy enough to stand up to the rest of the ingredients -

A glorious beet

A pumello that I'd been waiting to eat

and some lentils for protein. And Voila! A beautiful winter salad.

What do you eat when you're craving something healthy and fresh when there's not much fresh available?