Colorful Kale Salad with Pomegranate Seeds and Roasted Nuts + Make your own dressing!

January 10, 2015 Corrie Anderson

Even though Christmas and New Years have come and gone, the Hallmark channel has ceased the showings of their complex (just kidding....) Christmas movies, and the Christmas trees have piled up at local parks waiting for pick up, I tried to keep Christmastide surfing past New Years day.

This past week in Nashville, we had the most delightful winter weather! At times, I felt like I was back in Minnesota, where, for me, the heart of Christmas truly lives. I want to shovel the driveway and throw snow up in the air for Lainee and then give her a bath to dissolve all the snow dingleberries she accumulates. During the Christmas season, I want to drive by the big tree on Cedar which at Christmastime is engulfed in lights and then I want to walk around Lake Harriet with snow boots on. I want to go sledding with my nephews which always includes building jumps, obviously, and creating scavenger hunts for them to find all of their presents. Christmas is constant Christmas music, my mom's trays of cookies and candies, a big dinner on Christmas Eve, and Christmas movies on Christmas day. (please note how there are no mentions of any sports watching whatsoever)

Oh, do I sound completely homesick or something???

Needless to say, this week made me feel close to home! There was even snow for 10 - 15 minute intervals one day this week!!

We did miss the sun though, so I had to come up with something bright, green, and crunchy for us to eat! This is the kind of salad that you will want to use your hands for the last few bits so you don't leave anything behind. DON'T ACT LIKE YOU'VE NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE!!!

Presenting: Colorful Kale Salad with Pomegranate Seeds and Roasted Nuts.

It's also super easy. And crunchy. And bright.

I used cosmic purple and solar haze yellow carrots, which are heirloom varieties. Not only do these carrots add nice pops of color, they also lend nice flavor notes. The purple carrots are a little bit peppery, while the yellow carrots are a bit sweeter. Did you know that one purple carrot contains all of the Vitamin A you need for in one day? If you can't find these varieties, regular carrots will work just as well!

You might even want to send me a thank you note because when you eat this salad you will have consumed more Vitamin A, C, and K than you ever thought was possible in one bowl. The vitamin K value dwarfs the boast worthy benefits of Calcium, Iron, and Potassium, but they're still significant!!

Even the dressing is sunny, bright, and EASY! Not to mention, it contains all REAL ingredients, no fake stuff like store brought salad dressing.

Try this delicious salad and let me know what you think! Please share your creation with me!! It would bring me so much joy! Take a photo of your ultra healthy Kale salad, make sure you’re following me on Instagram, tag @corrielanderson and add #itsallofit so I can see how yummy it looks!!

Colorful Kale Salad with Pomegranate Seeds & Roasted Nuts

Recipe Author: Corrie L. Anderson

Recipe Type: Lunch, Dinner, Side

Serves: 4 – 5 people

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

½ bunch of green Kale
½ bunch of Russian Kale
1 head, Living lettuce (Bibb or butter lettuce)
*1 solar yellow carrot
*1 cosmic purple carrot
2 carrots
1 yellow bell pepper
½ cup pomegranate seeds
½ cup kale sprouts (or sunflower sprouts)
½ - ¾ cup of roasted nuts and/or seeds (I used sunflower seeds, cashews, and hazelnuts)

INSTRUCTIONS

Rinse off kale and living lettuce; rip them into smaller pieces by hand. Put into large bowl or several smaller bowls for individual servings.
Add carrots, pepper, kale sprouts, and pomegranate seeds to bowl/bowls. Use your hands to mix the incorporate the ingredients. Drizzle the creamy lemon vinaigrette over salad mixture. Sprinkle nuts and seeds on top.

** Improvise with what you have on hand or what you can find in your grocery store or farmers market! If you can’t find purple or yellow carrots, you can just use orange carrots! Same with the kale! To add more color, you could use different colors of peppers, or even radishes if you like them!

Serving Size: 1 (no dressing) Calories: 250 Fat: 7 g Saturated Fat: 1 g Carbohydrates: 34 gSugar: 10 gSodium: 130 mg Fiber: 8 g Protein: 9 g Vitamin A: 337% Vitamin C: 286% Calcium: 15% Iron: 19% Vitamin K: 750% Potassium: 25%

Bright Creamy Lemon Vinaigrette

Serving Size: 1 teaspoon (makes about 6 ounces)

1 small to medium sized shallot
6 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of one lemon
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon honey
freshly cracked black pepper
kosher salt

1. Chop shallot into smaller pieces. Put all ingredients into a blender, and blend for about 30 seconds to one minute, or until it is smooth. Taste, and then season with salt and pepper to your liking! Will keep for about a week in the refrigerator, maybe longer, but ours never lasts long enough to test!

Serving Size: 1 teaspoon Calories: 28Fat: 3 g Saturated Fat: 0 g Carbohydrates: 0 g Sugar: 0 g Sodium: 50 mg Fiber: 0 g Protein: 0g