When the summer arrives I find myself making tons and tons of salads. The greens in our CSA shares are beautiful and fresh, plus I have the Super Greens add on as well! I hope that in the coming weeks and months Jess and I can show you that salads don’t have to be just a bowl of lettuce, not that there is anything wrong with a standard side salad, it just seems to get old pretty quickly. I’m actually excited that this year my boys will eat salads now as well!
Salads are a great way to boost nutrition, help maintain a healthy and balanced diet, room to be super creative, and you can really pack in a good punch of flavors. For those of you who work, you can make a big batch of salad on Sunday and have lunches made for the week (you just don’t mix dressing on your greens in until you serve or they will wilt). I have a friend who packs her salads in large mason jars and just grabs a jar from the fridge on her way out the door for work, awesome idea!
Tonight we are having chicken and cheese quesadillas on corn tortillas, to keep things gluten free. Add this southwestern salad for tons of flavor and color to the meal and we have a well balanced winner of a dinner.
Earlier in the day I did a bunch of prep when I could squeeze it in so I would be able to concentrate on the quesadillas at dinner time. This way you can place all of your salad ingredients on the platter just before serving and they will all be at the same temperature.
I started with the kale. Kale is a real nutrition power house, but the leaves can be tough. I tend to use them in green smoothies or I slice them super thin. Today I will use my lacinato kale. I took 6 leaves of kale…
Separated the leaves from the stems…
Then stack them and thinly slice…
I did did a quick sauté in a pan with a tiny bit of oil and a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar. Cool it in the fridge while you wash and chop your lettuce hearts. Then toss together for the base of the salad.
Add to that the other flavors, tonight I used tomato, corn, black beans, shredded cheese, and cucumbers. Another great plus about salads is that you can match people’s preferences. Below is what dinner looks like for the boys.
I make ate sure I have enough for lunches the next day, here is what Alex will be enjoying tomorrow at work.
There are so many goodies on top you can’t even see the kale and lettuce hearts base but it’s down there. Enjoy!