Food Fashion and Flow: Kale Cranberry Apple Salad   

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Kale Cranberry Apple Salad


This salad is full of good stuff and perfect for the Holiday season. Apples, cranberries, pecans and a melange of crispy veggies balance nicely with the robust kale. If you are looking for a great holiday salad for your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, this is it!

Kale is a very robust salad green and can handle a lot more dressing than the typical salad. Massaging some of the dressing into the kale takes away some of the harshness that kale can have and the longer it sits with the dressing on it the better it tastes. Another great trick to make kale salad even better is to warm the vinaigrette and let it slightly cook the kale and take some of the rough edge out of it. This salad has a nice sweetness, a little tartness, crunch and lots of flavors that blend well together.

 Start with fresh kale and chop the leaves as small and thin as possible

Red Cabbage adds some flavor and texture

Carrots add more color and a little sweetness

Dried cranberries add so much flavor and more sweetness that balances well with the kale

Apple marries well with all of the other ingredients. My favorite apple to use in salads is granny smith or pink lady, but your favorite one will work perfectly

Pecans add that delicious crunchiness that we love in a good salad

This is so good, you will want to eat it all the time. Try making this for the holidays

Ingredients

1/2 cup pecans
8 ounces of kale 
1 carrot
1/2 cup chopped red cabbage
1 granny smith apple
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Dressing Ingredients

6 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons honey
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 and spread on a cookie sheet or baking pan and bake for about 5-7 minutes. Wash kale and remove the stems. Chop the kale into bite size pieces/  Sprinkle a dash of sea salt over the kale and massage by the handful by scrunching with your hands gently. Set aside.
Grate the carrot and chop the red cabbage into thin shreds. In a small bowl, whisk the salad ingredients together. Take a couple of tablespoons of dressing and massage it into the kale. Add the carrots, red cabbage, apple, and cranberries. Toss the ingredients and let sit for 20 minutes. Add the pecans and toss once before serving.

The apples are so good in this salad and you can swap the apples for pears and it works beautifully
 
This is a great way to get your fruits and veggies in one meal


What are you waiting for? 

Bon Appetit!


12 comments:

MarkD60 said...

I'm at work.
I got hungry and ate my lunch early.
Now it's afternoon and I am STARVING!
That's why you posted this post, to torture me.
I wish you could email me some salad.

Emmylou said...

Aaaaaaah...LV, your food posts always make me salivate. I should be careful when reading your blog:P
Hope you're having a fab day so far.

Unknown said...

I always love a great salad recipe!

Covenant Grace said...

Great looking salad, LV! I like to massage my kale with a small amount of olive oil and sprinkle it with sea salt. I usually allow it to marinate at least 15 minutes before adding other toppings. Sometimes, I marinate a covered dish of kale and just leave it in the refrigerator so that when I'm ready for a salad, the kale is ready.

yummychunklet said...

Colorful salad!

Joyful said...

The salad looks absolutely delish!

LV said...

@MarkD60, HaHa!!!! I wish I could email you some salad to:-)

@Emmylou, you should try this salad. I know you will love it!

@Dora, Me too!

@TrinityGrace, massaging kale always makes the salad so much better. I think marinating it is key to letting all the flavor seep into the kale leaves

@YummyChunklet, Thanks hun!

@Joyful, thanks sweetie! I have not seen you in a while, I hope you are doing well:-)

Cece @Mahogany Drive said...

I'm a big fan of hearty salads that really eat like a meal. I haven't quite ventured into fruit in salads just yet but I really do love a good salad.

xoxo Kellz* said...

absolutely amazing i bet its delicious

My blog here www.islandchic77.com

Choc Chip Uru @ Go Bake Yourself said...

What a lovely salad, the kale is so vibrant against the beautiful cranberries :D

Cheers
CCU

P.S Unfortunately, I have lost around 1000 subscribers on my blog, and I have no idea how, so if you were subscribed, would you be able to resubscribe? Thank you!

Whitney 'Nic' James said...

I just picked up some kale from the grocery store last night. I am trying this recipe this weekend. Looks delicious!

~Whitney
www.whitneynicjames.com

Miss Daja said...

I actually just had a similar salad. Mine included spinach, almonds, dried cranberries and feta cheese. I cut up chicken strips to put inside. It was soooooo good! This does look amazing I just can't eat the nuts (allergies) but I would like to try this next.

Miss Daja

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