Status: ROGUE

I don’t like kale. There...I said it! I don’t get why people love it and that makes me uncomfortable. I’ve mentioned my weirdness around food fads, right? Anyway, kale is one of those fads I could never get my head around. Like: Where did this vegetable come from? How did most people not know about it before 2013? So do we just forget the amazing spinach for the new leafy green on the block? I’m honestly in my feelings about this, y’all.

Growing up, I loved Popeye and his ability to harness the power of spinach. For years, Momma did not cook spinach because of her personal feelings about it (side note: same goes for brussel sprouts--these two ended up being my favorite dark green veggies), so I simply adored it from afar. But when she did introduce it into the family’s diet-- it was a wrap from there! So my love for spinach runs deep, just know that. So you can understand why I was not the most open when kale became king in the health food streets. Regardless, I still tried it...in my own time. I have even blogged about this. But I did come across a recipe that has almost kinda sorta made me more open to kale.

While in the DMV, I explored vegan foods and really enjoyed them. My coworker helped me to see that many resturants work really hard to make sure the food looks and tastes good. During this exploration, I came across Garlic Kale Salad and have missed it since moving back to New England. Not to say this region doesn’t have really good food as well...it’s just missing the particular flavors of being closer to the Mason-Dixon Line. With that said, I tried my hand at the dish, and it came out pretty good! I used this recipe as a base, and added a few different things based on other recipes I came across. For the record, this is the first recipe of the year that isn’t inspired by a person of color. I am still dedicated to my mission, and will get back to it in the next post. In the meantime, enjoy my take on this dish and let me know what you think!

Money Matters
In total I spent $13 making this salad. I did not have a couple of the key ingredients, and they happen to be on the more pricy side. From this recipe you will have 4 servings, thus, $3.25/serving. I added a couple of things to make the salad a complete meal, instead of a side, so I paid closer to $20 for the complete meal-- $5/serving.

#ROGUElyfe
As I mentioned, I added a couple of key ingredients and made it larger to enjoy it for lunch. Some tips:

Other recipes call for tahini and nutritional yeast, I suggest splurging on these items-- they make all the difference
I left out the cheese...you don’t have to
For the spice seekers: add some, it really is a good move

My Take
⅓ fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 ½ cup olive oil
5 (or more) cloves garlic
¼ cup tahini
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
Salt for taste
10-12 oz kale, destemmed and torn into bite size pieces

Other salad ingredients, if desired:
Sweet peppers, julienned
Broccoli slaw mix, dry
Baked chicken, or another protein

Directions

Blend together lemon juice, oil, garlic, tahini, and yeast in a food processor until smooth. You may have some larger garlic pieces--this is fine. If you feel better, you can discard the larger chunks. Set the dressing aside to steep.

In a large bowl, place the torn up kale. Once the dressing is done steeping (15-20 minutes, or more if you like), add it to the bowl and massage it into the kale. Use your hands! Tossing or stirring will not give you the same results: get dirty! Massage until the leaves are fully coated.

Once done, you can allow to chill for an hour or serve immediately. If making as a full meal, add your other ingredients right before serving. Enjoy!

Happy Cooking Y’all :)