YUM is all I can say.

Salads are fun because you can eat them in an infinite amount of ways by just changing the dressing up, but let’s face it–it’s easy to be bored by them.

The key is to make sure every dressing tastes like Jesus, but without divine, hard-to-get/expensive ingredients. By keeping it simple and working with strong flavors and chewy textures, you’re bound to love a salad any day, any meal.

I used to hate kale. It’s a rough one to nosh through. There is nothing wrong with chewing, but to chew and chew and chew on something that doesn’t seem to be breaking down is a bitch. So, once I realized how to soften this frigid foliage up, it has become my favorite green!

The dressing was inspired by my go-to salad, which is essentially greens massaged in guacamole.  This time, however, I wanted the dressing to be more mellow and sweet, hence the carrot!

The result=to die for. This salad is so filling, because kale is denser and thicker than most greens, and the dressing is full of flavor.

Raw Carrot & Avocado Kale Salad

Ingredients:

– 1 bunch kale
– 1 tbsp sea salt
– 2 carrots
– 1 avocado
– 1/2 lemon’s juice
– 1 clove garlic
– 1/4 tsp salt
– 1/4 tsp pepper

Serves 2

Directions:

Gather your kale and begin to pick the leaves from the stems. The stems are rough and not fun to eat, so get rid of ’em.

Now that you’ve washed and de-stemmed the kale, it is now time to massage 1 tbsp of sea salt into the kale until juices are released and the kale becomes softer. Don’t worry, we will rinse the salt away after we massage, so there will be no salty taste left behind.

Massaging requires a few minutes to break the kale down.

Let the kale sit a bit before you rinse. Meanwhile make the dressing.

Combine 2 carrots and 1 avocado in a food processor with 1 garlic clove, 1/2 lemon’s juice, and salt & pepper.

Blend this bad boy up until it is a creamy consistency.

And that’s all there is to it!

Rinse your kale thoroughly and then add this dressing.

You can mix with a spoon or get right to it and use your clean hands to massage and coat each leaf evenly with the dressing.

My favorite part of this salad is how the dressing gets caught in the ruffles and grooves of the kale, collecting chunks of avocado and carrot deliciousness that is captured with each bite.

And plate. I like to add some color contrast with tomato.

Delicious darlings, simply yum.

xoxo