Kale has never been something that sounded all that great to me. It was too bitter for me and I felt that its only use was for a garnish at buffets. Well, you really can’t go anywhere without seeing kale since it is a superfood.
From the Skinny Mom blog:
“Kale is PACKED with vitamins and nutrients. Its dark green leaves pack an even bigger punch of vitamin A and C, calcium and cancer-fighting phytonutrients. It is high in carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin. It also has tons of fiber—a cup of kale packs 90 mg of fiber while a cup of spinach only has 30 mg. In addition, kale delivers Vitamin B6, which helps maintain healthy nervous and immune systems, as well as iron and calcium. I can really go on forever about how amazing this superfood is – the best part, it is SO cheap and available fresh year round!”
So I decided that since this kale stuff was so healthy I would follow the crowd and do the whole smoothie thing. Adding kale to my smoothies did not go over well. I hated that I didn’t ever blend it right or I had added it too soon, or too late and it was always chunky in there. I had to realize kale drinking wasn’t for me.
I didn’t want to give up on this healthy ingredient and so I decided that I would give the gold old kale chips a try. Again, major fail. What am I doing wrong here? I either burned them, seasoned them too much, not enough and I even tried just buying a bag of them from the store. Just not my thing.
When I thought I had finally given up on being a fan of kale I went to one of my favorite restaurants here in Utah, Cubbys. They are always making great burgers, salads and their sweet potato fries are to die for. I was checking my Instagram one day and saw that they had added a new menu item exclusive to their Lehi location: Citrus Kale Salad.
“We now have a salad with organic kale, fresh grapefruit, blood oranges, pine nuts, avocado, mixed with ricotta salata, fresh lemon & olive oil.”
Are you kidding me right now? I am obsessed with grapefruit and everything about this salad sounded delicious. I had to get down there and try thing thing out. HEAVEN!!! I honestly had never had a more refreshing salad in my life. So delicious and the mixture of citrus, nuts and kale was a perfect combination.
After that I couldn’t stop thinking about this new love for kale and mixing things together that I would have never thought of before into something amazing! I knew that it clearly was too soon for me to try to make something like this myself so I just figured I would live with the fact that if I ever wanted another delicious kale salad I would have to just drive down to Cubbys.
Well, at work the other day we were rewarded with lunch because of how busy it has been and we needed to keep getting work done. What did they get the office? Pizza. And not just any pizza, but my favorite: Papa Johns. I am trying so hard to having a healthy lifestyle and they were tempting me with my favorite unhealthy food. Yeah I know, I could have had a slice and been fine. I mean I had ran three miles, biked 15 miles and swam for almost an hour that morning. I deserved a slice of pizza right? No. here is the problem, I can’t just have a slice or two. I have to eat it until it is gone. I don’t care if I am full, I will keep eating until there is nothing left to consume.
Once I can get that under control, sure I’ll have a slice or two, but until that day comes I will just stick with avoiding it for now. I knew there were healthy options to eat at around my work and so I decided to look at the new salads at Cafe Zupas. I thought I had seen that they added a new kale salad, so of course I wanted to try it out. Now it wasn’t a citrus kale salad, but I wanted to give it a chance.
Doesn’t that sound delicious? The fruits, shredded kale, quinoa, parmesan cheese and pistachios mixed with herb vinaigrette. I ordered my salad to go, went through the busy lunch line and purchased my salad. As I returned to my desk with my salad in hand I was like a little kid at Christmas so excited to open this delicious gift.
I opened grabbed my fork, opened my to-go box and took a heaping bite. Another success! This salad hit every taste bud and was enjoyable to the very last bite.
Even Costco has jumped on the kale band wagon. They have two different prepackaged salads, one with a strawberry vinaigrette and the other with a poppy seed dressing. These are heavenly and perfect for easy lunch packing.
It didn’t take me long to realize my love for kale came in the form of a salad and I couldn’t be happier. What does this mean then? I guess you will be seeing some amazing kale salad recipes from me coming soon because I don’t think I can go even a few days without my kale fix anymore. I have officially converted to this superfood.
