Sept. 4: Kale makes me happy, but you already knew that!

Another kale salad? Why the heck not! My love of kale has been well-documented this summer, and adding yet another salad to the mix just seemed to make sense. Though, truthfully, this post ends up being more about the dressing than the salad... 

Originally the plan was for the kale caesar salad (see the video below). Then I realized I'm not really a fan of anchovies, and wasn't in the mood to buy them just for this salad. Capers aren't something I love love, either. So I took the idea, and the general concept from the recipe that PBS posted (one of their most clicked on recipes in the month of August!) and adapted to suit my tastes.



Pretty funny pup, eating kale, eh? I love this video. It's a very happy salad-making moment. (I put the happy in there just for you, Jen.)

I also had a really great kale salad at a juice/salad place in Seattle earlier this summer, and have been meaning to recreate that combination of flavors all summer. So this salad really turned into an amalgam of 1) what is around and fresh, 2) my taste memories and 3) any excuse to throw a handful of parmesan cheese into a bowl and call it healthful!

Kale salad with corn, avocado and tomato
Serves 2, as a side dish, 1 if you're me
3 large handfuls of prepped kale--destemmed, roughly chopped or ripped
1 large tomato, diced
1/2 avocado, cubed
1 ear corn, roasted and cut off the cob
1 cup croutons, homemade preferable but storebought is allowed ;)
1/3 cup shredded parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste

Dressing
2 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 large bunch parsley, washed
1 egg yolk
2 tsp. dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. sherry vinegar
2/3 cup olive oil

Put all the dressing ingredients into a blender and whiz on high until blended well.

Put the kale in a large mixing bowl and drizzle the dressing generously over the leaves. Massage the kale with your hands until the leaves wilt and the dressing is very well integrated.

Add the rest of the salad ingredients except the parmesan, and toss to combine. Add a bit more dressing to the salad to ensure that the additional ingredients get coated well with dressing. Add the parmesan last and toss one more time, then season to taste with salt and pepper.

This recipe makes more dressing than needed for one salad. Put the rest of the dressing in a jar and refrigerate. Its pretty greenness will call to you from the fridge!

This salad and dressing are both keepers. I love the bite of the shallots and garlic, as well as the green goddess appearance from the parsley. I will be tossing this dressing on many a salad in the near future!

Enjoy. These waning days of summer, all I want is the good, fresh produce that I know is going to vanish before we know it. Poof.

Jen and I (and now my mom and Lisa too!) are blog challenging throughout September. You can catch her blog over at Stuff Jen Says. If you want to write along with us, give me a shout and I'll send you the blog prompts.

I love steak + I love salad = many Perfect Bites of steak salad

teak salad has been a favorite of mine for a long time...really, from the first bite I had of one such salad, years ago. A couple of local restaurants have usually served good summer steak salads... until one of them stopped serving lunch and the other had a major chef-changeover, thus new menu, thus no more steak salad...

But that's OK, I can make one for myself! Having a variety of summer ingredients on hand, and steak as well, makes for a happy girl in this kitchen.

It's been a few years since I first saw tomatoes and nectarines and/or peaches together in a salad--not what I immediately said "oh yes" to, but it proved itself a surprising sweet-savory combination. Add to that a little grilled steak, some avocado and blue cheese, and this salad has all the makings of a Perfect Bite. (I am a big fan of meals that can bring about a Perfect Bite, as you can read here, here or here, if you have spare time on your hands...)

Steak salad with tomatoes and nectarines
1 4-6 oz. steak, grilled to your preference, cooled and sliced thinly
1 tomato, cut into eighth wedges
1 nectarine, sliced
1/2 avocado, peeled and cubed
2 cups mixed greens of your choice, washed and chopped
1/3 cup blue cheese crumbles
Balsamic vinaigrette

Arrange the salad greens on a dinner-size plate, and add the steak, tomatoes, nectarines and avocado in whatever order you'd like. Crumble the blue cheese over the top and drizzle with vinaigrette.

This one makes my day, whenever I get a chance to whip it up. I hope you enjoy as well.

Modified chopped Cobb salad

ome days I just crave a big salad with lots of meat. And I don't mean "meat" in the animal sense, although I'm certainly not opposed to a little chicken, or a steak salad... But most of the time, I'm wanting more than just a few greens with dressing. What I'm looking for is to fill up on a big bowl of my favorite ingredients, and right now those ingredients scream SPRING! (I should say, SUMMER!, since the warmth finally arrived in all it's glory!)

Recently, my salad bowl ended up with the following:

Modified chopped Cobb salad
Serves 2 (or if you're me and you've been working in the yard all morning, just me)
1.5 cups asparagus, roasted and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 avocado, peeled and diced
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped into eighths
4 baguette slices, toasted and cut into quarters (to act as croutons, and they worked quite nicely)
1 spring onion, chopped finely
1/4 cup blue cheese
Dressing of your choice: I like a light olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette, but blue cheese or ranch would also be yummy...

I tossed all these ingredients in a large bowl and let sit for a (precious) few minutes to let the dressing soak into the baguette.

Enjoy!

If, like me, upon typing "Cobb," you wonder where that name actually came from, and should it always be capitalized...  check this out. Good to know.