Tuscan Kale & Red Cabbage Salad- with Avocado Lemon Tahini Dressing

Kale salads are great—but maybe your finding yourself falling out of love with the luscious leaf. Anyone who doubts this stalky, bitter brassica’s ability to take root within our collective consciousness, consider this: last year, 262 babies in the United States were named Kale. And that’s why kale is #1 in my book- I mean, I don’t see any babies answering to “Kimchi” or “Dandelion”. Point blank.  I’m here to remind you WHY you love kale- so let’s start laying down the basics .  To begin, let’s talk about Kale, Tuscan kale, like all kale’s, is extraordinarily nutritious: a cup provides more than 100 percent of the daily value of vitamins K and A, and 88 percent of the DV for vitamin C. You might think the “fad” with kale is all hipster fluff, but did you know that kale was a popular vegetable in ancient Greek and Roman times? HA! Take that! You feel that warm fuzziness starting to grow? THAT’S true KALE LOVE!

Kale provides rich nutrition ingredients that offer protection from vitamin A deficiency, osteoporosis, iron-deficiency anemia, and believed to protect from cardiovascular diseases and colon and prostate cancers. Not that you need convincing, because atop of all the health benefits, kale (and specifically, Tuscan Kale) is a hearty, tasty & extremely versatile brassica (genus of plants in the mustard family). I made this recipe today (that was pretty much an experiment) combining flavors and textures that are known to intermingle in the tastiest of ways. Not to mention tahini dressings are always phenomenal- you could slather that heavenly goodness on a piece of cardboard and I’d eat it. My version of your classic lemon tahini dressing has a bit of a avo-twist. The best part about this recipe is that you don’t need to measure anything- just taste as you go! Just like falling in love- no rules, no problem. So I’ll just give you the ingredients, some ball park measuring, and let you get comfy cozy with kale.

What you’ll need

• kale (I’m using Tuscan kale- it’s quite tender, even in its raw state)
• red cabbage
• red onion
• carrots
• celery
• avocado
• raw tahini
• garlic
• Himalaya salt & pink pepper
• lemon
• unfiltered ACV
• sesame seed oil for garnish

For the salad:

• 1/2 head of red cabbage (chopped as fine/or thick as you prefer)
• 3-4 long leaves of Tuscan kale *or kale of your choice
• a handful of chopped celery
• a bit of chopped red onion
• 1/2 carrot (or about 10 baby carrots)

For the dressing:

Mix below ingredients in a food processor or bullet

• 1/4 slice of Florida Avocado
• 2 tablespoons raw tahini ( who am I kidding- just pour that ‘ish in there- as much as you can spare! )
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 lemon juice squeezed
• dash of Himalaya salt & peppercorn

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