Salads That Don't Suck

Heart of Palm & Kale Salad

This recipe serves 4 as a light lunch or 2 really hungry people. You can scale up the recipe as much as you’d like or scale it back to suit your needs. I like to use organic tempeh, but you could substitute chicken or hard boiled eggs would be good too.

Ok, let’s talk about my newest AMAZON favorite…Palmini heart of palm pasta noodles. We all know how much I like pasta, I am always trying to find a good replacement and these noodles are so dang good! I use it in pasta dishes as well as salads. A few tips, I like to rinse the noodles with water, then place them on the stove with a little avocado oil to heat them up. Super easy, really good, and healthy!

Let’s also talk about tempeh. Most importantly, tempeh is a whole food. It’s produced with significantly less processing then grocery store soy milk, tofu, and soy burgers. Tempeh is super high in protein, making it a great plant-based protein. Because tempeh is fermented, the fermentation process increases the disgestilbity of soy. Here is more information about this protein. I do suggest buying non-gmo and organic tempeh

Ingredients

• 3-4 cups raw kale, torn or sliced (can sub any other leathery green)

• 1 whole Avocado, diced or sliced

• 4 oz tempeh (half a package, usually), seared in a hot skillet with avocado oil and 1/2 inch diced (can substitute seared tofu, chicken, egg)

• 1/2 can of heated Palmini noodles (sub white beans)

• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds or pepitas

• 1 tablespoon hemp seeds

• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

For dressing

• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard

• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil

• Juice of half a lemon

• 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients.

2. Place 1/2 of the kale in a large mixing bowl and top with a tablespoon of the dressing. Massage the kale until slightly wilted.

3. Heat a skillet on the stove at mid-high heat. Add coconut oil or avocado oil. Once hot, add in the other 1/2 of the kale. Cook until crispy, add sea salt. Here is Nutrition with Chelsea’s crispy kale recipe!

4. In another skillet, heat avocado oil, add sliced tempeh, and cool until golden brown.

5. Once kale is almost cooked, I like to add in the Palmini noodles. Cook until warm.

6. Add the rest of the salad ingredients, toss to combine. If slicing the avocado, reserve it until you’re done tossing and top the salad with it. Top with an extra squeeze of lemon and season to taste with salt as needed.

7. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. They’ll last 5-7 days.