Strawberry Kale Quinoa Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette

One of my suggestions when making a kale salad is to tear the kale into small pieces but rub it together and through your hands while you are ripping it apart. It breaks the kale down and makes it much less rough & bitter, it will make the kale brighter green too. I promise the coconut bacon on this just makes it THAT much better. You want to put it on there. Make some & have left overs! I don't put lots of dressing on the salad when it's in the large bowl, I kind of wait until I'm about to eat it and put it over the top then add the coconut bacon.

Salad
1/2 cup quinoa, cooked in 1 cup water
1 bunch kale, torn into small pieces
6-8 strawberries, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 cucumber, chopped
2 green onions including white part, sliced
1/2 avocado, diced
coconut bacon to taste (for topping)
1/2 red bell pepper, small dice (optional)

Strawberry Vinaigrette Dressing
1 1/2 cups strawberries (fresh)
1/4 cup coconut vinegar (not coconut flavored vinegar) can sub white wine vinegar or lemon juice
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil or grapeseed oil
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup coconut sugar

Salad: In a large bowl, put the torn kale. After the quinoa is cooked and has cooled for at least 5 minutes, add it over the top of the kale and toss with 1/2 cup of the strawberry vinaigrette. Now add the rest of the salad ingredients over the top, except the coconut bacon (save that for when it is plated). Drizzle with a bit of the dressing.

Dressing: Throw it all in the blender and blend for 1 minute.

Kale Salad with Creamy Mango Vinigrette Dessing (GF, Vegan)

I know I am a slacker and never post anything on here lately. I wish I could say it was because I am so busy with work that I just don't have time, but that's not the case. It's basically that I'm lazy and get caught up doing other stuff. At any rate, this mango dressing is soooo amazingly good. I find myself just trying to eat IT! I use it in other salads as well, hopefully I will post another one somewhat soon.

Serves 4 as entree salads

Salad
1.5 cup quinoa, cooked in 3 cups water
4-5 cups kale torn (I also used baby greens mixed in)
1 cup tomato, chopped
1 cup cucumber, quartered and sliced
1 large mango, diced
1 red onion, sliced thin
1 avocado, diced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped (or herb of choice, I've done it with basil & it's great)
1 tbs lemon juice
1/4 cup currants, cranberries or raisins
1/4 cup pepitas (can sub slivered almonds, or cashews)

 Cook quinoa first and allow it to cool down some before putting it with the salad. In a medium-large bowl combine all salad ingredients except quinoa, kale, currants & pepitas.
To serve, place greens on 4 seperate plates (or bowls) top with 1/4 the amount of cooked quinoa. Top with salad ingredients from the med-large bowl, then put desired amout of dressing on top, it is creamy and somewhat thick. Then sprinkle with currants and pepitas. I usually sprinkle on some salt, black pepper & cayenne pepper as well, but it depends who I'm serving it to.

 *If you are making this as a large salad for individuals to dish themselves, put kale in a large serving bowl first, then add the quinoa & ingredients from the bowl, mix. Then add in a little more than half of the dressing and toss, if it seems somewhat dry, add in more, I like mine drenched in the stuff, but some people may not. Sprinkle currants & pepitas on top of the salad.

Creamy Mango Vinigrette 
1 VERY FULL cup mango
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup sweetener of choice (I've used maple syrup, coconut sugar, stevia & agave all in different amounts or individually, just needs to be equal to 1/4 cup)
1/3 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 large clove garlic
1/2 inch knob fresh ginger
pinch cayenne pepper (optional)

Put all the ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth.

Bombay Salad (GF, Vegan)

aka Quinoa, Chickpea, Watercress, Mango & Avocado Salad w/Curry Lime Vinaigrette. Now you see why I called it Bombay Salad. haha.
 Makes 4-6 servings

1/2 c quinoa
1 c water
1 c watercress, chopped
1 c spinach, chopped
1 can (no salt added) garbanzo beans/chickpeas, rinsed
1 mango, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 avocado, cubed
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 tbs pepitas
2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes


Lime Curry Vinaigrette

2 1/2 tbs fresh lime juice
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp ginger powder
2 tsp honey/agave/maple syrup or other preferred sweetener
4 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste


Bring the water to a boil, add quinoa, turn to low & add a lid. Cook for about 15 min, until all the water is gone (like rice). Allow to cool for 5 min with the lid on, then fluff.

Chop up all the salad ingredients and mix in a bowl.

For the dressing, I've found it's easiest if you put it in a little container that has a lid, put all the ingredients in and SHAKE. Then pour it over the salad & mix it all around.

Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies (GF, Vegan)

Ok, I was bad and didn't take a picture of these, but, they turned out really great, so I'm going to post the recipe anyway. Avocado is a new love of mine to sub for oil. Fat for a fat, just one comes in it's 100% natural state instead of having any sort of processing (which you know I love!)

1 cup sweet potato puree (can use pumpkin)

1 cup coconut sugar

1 avocado, peeled and pitted

1 flax egg (1 TBS ground flax in 3 TBS warm/hot water) 

1 TBS agave

2 cups preferred flour (I used a gluten-free blend by Pure Pantry)

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cups chocolate chips

Mango Salsa (GF, Raw, Vegan)

This salsa is a hit every time I make it. You can make it more or less spicy depending on how much cayenne or red pepper flakes you add into it.

Shown here with onion flat bread/crackers <--- click for link

Makes about 4 cups

2 mangos, cubed
2 avocados, cubed
1 large anaheim pepper, or 2 small ones, diced small
1 tbs lime juice
1 tsp salt
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup loosely packed cilantro, chopped
dash of cayenne or red pepper flakes
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1 tsp garlic powder

Pretty easy, just combine all of the ingredients together and mix well. Add more salt if desired.

Summer Kale Salad (Alkaline, GF, Raw, Vegan)

I haven't had many truly alkaline dishes posted on here lately, so here is a great one!  There are tons of kale salads around, and basically you can add whatever types of vegetables you want over the top, I think these go well though. The dressing is an awesome pair with kale, so even if you don't love the combo of these veggies, try the dressing over the kale. 

The salad before all of the the ingredients being tossed

The salad tossed

Salad is served!

Serves 4-6

Summer Kale Salad

1 bunch of kale (about 4-6 cups)

1 cup finely chopped sweet onion

2 small carrots, chopped or julienne sliced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 English cucumber (2 cups chopped halves)

1 avocado, chopped or cubed

1 & 1/4 cup chopped tomatoes

¼ cup cranberries or other dried berry (exclude to make 100% alkaline)

¼ cup raw pepitas

fresh or dried herbs, personal preference (basil, cilantro and oregano go great!)

Dressing:

1/4 cup Tahini

3 garlic cloves

1/2 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

1/4 cup liquid aminos

1 tbsp agave nectar (sub with 6 drops of stevia to be 100% alkaline)

2 tbsp water

2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp real salt + black pepper, or to taste 

2 tbsp flaxseed

Blend all ingredients for dressing in a high powered blender. Dressing will thicken up in a few min, from the flax (intentionally). So after you blend it, if it seems thick already, you may want to add another tbs of water.

Rinse kale and tear into salad sized pieces and put into a large bowl. Marinate the kale in about half of the dressing, and make sure it gets all over the kale. Allow to sit in the fridge for at least 30 min. If you don't have time to let it marinade, before you put the dressing on, drizzle lemon juice over the kale, making sure that it's totally coated, wait for 5 min, then toss with dressing to serve after salad ingredients have been added.

When ready to serve, add salad ingredients over the top. Toss optional.

Pestocado Sandwich (Alkaline, GF, Raw, Vegan)

using Onion Flat Bread pt 2, and alfalfa sprouts. Kale chips on the side

using Onion Flat Bread pt 2

Makes 1 sandwich

1/2 roma tomato, sliced
1/2 small or 1/4 large avocado, thinly sliced
1/4 C preferred greens
1-2 Tbs Pesto (Whatever kind you prefer, but it's great w/Pumpkin Seed Pesto or Spinach-Sundried Tomato Pesto)
1/4 C sprouts (I used sunflower in the pic, but often use alfalfa or broccoli)
2 onion flat bread OR onion flat bread pt 2 pieces

Put pesto onto the onion bread pieces, then stack other ingredients on as desired. Top with other onion bread piece and enjoy!!