Kale, Carrot, and Cabbage Salad with Avocado Dressing

One salad with two ways to serve it : 1) raw or 2) sautéed. I love recipes like this! Kale, Carrot, and Cabbage Salad for the win either way you serve it.

Are you ever disappointed with salads the next day? I know I am. I have never been into the wilted, soggy salads that I feel too bad throwing away knowing full well it’s not going to keep well. But we all know it happens. And then I met kale. Kale is sturdy and a powerhouse.

I initially made this salad to be a raw salad. A delicious, crunchy, and colorful salad to go alongside our main dish. It was great, but then the next day an idea sparked my interest. The leftover Kale, Carrot, and Cabbage Salad in the fridge was surprisingly still crunchy. However, I was trying to figure out what I wanted for lunch and this salad came to mind but with a twist. I wanted to eat it sautéed. So I did and it was totally awesome! Awesome enough that I will be meal prepping this bad boy for lunches from now on. I just loved it!

Kale is a part of the cruciferous family. Although it is not one of the most eaten vegetables, it contains cancer-fighting and heart protective glucosinolates. Kale does have somewhat of a bitter taste when eating it raw. If you can’t eat kale raw, try sautéeing as I do in this salad recipe below and compare the difference!

As much as I am loving this salad lately, I realized how much I appreciate a warm house this time of year. The other morning we woke up and our furnace wasn’t working, which of course happened on a 10 degree morning. I literally ran to the shower, got dressed, turned on the fireplace and found two other small space heaters we have and turned those suckers on full blast. Then I piled about 4 blankets on the kids that were snuggled up in our bed.

After an hour or so, our bedroom was nice and toasty due to the space heater and the kids threw off the blankets and I was like “Hey, aren’t you cold?” I was running around the house freezing my butt off and it wasn’t until they came out of our bedroom to eat breakfast that they noticed how incredibly cold it was in our house. They haven’t eaten breakfast that fast ever! Then they ran back to our bedroom and snuggled up where it was the warmest in our house. I handed out iPads and my phone and it was the surest way to entertain them for a little bit.

I was about to brave the cold outside and go scoop the freshly fallen snow on our driveway and sidewalk that now seemed much bigger than it ever had now that I had to scoop it.

I certainly came in a few times for some coffee breaks. And by coffee breaks I mean making a cup of coffee to let my hands warm up just by holding it. I’m pretty sure I was bundled up as well as Randy on A Christmas Story but it still didn’t seem to make a difference. Nebraska winters are just plain wicked.

Alright, timeout because this simple avocado dressing is timeout worthy. It’s the perfect addition to this salad. Also, as a super cool side note, the salad can be sautéed up to a day later after it has been mixed up with the avocado dressing.

Here is a look at option 1: eating the Kale, Carrot, and Cabbage Salad raw. YUMS!

Here is option 2: sautéeing your Kale, Carrot, and Cabbage Salad.

OMG!!

My personal favorite is option 2!

I just can’t get over this weather. It’s currently 6℉ outside but the windshield is -11℉! I’m super thankful our heater is fixed and hittin it hard right now. I had one of the best days ever just hanging out with the kids watching movies and helping Collin put together Legos. We watched at least a half dozen movies and I made them agree to reading a few books in between. I couldn’t ask for a better winter day!

So despite the lack of exercise, I didn’t feel too bad about myself after eating this clean eating salad that didn’t disappoint in terms of flavor.

And go ahead, try sautéeing it for five minutes after it’s all put together and let me know what you think!

Kale, Carrot, and Cabbage Salad with Avocado Dressing

Megan

Kale, Carrot, and Cabbage Salad with an Avocado Dressing. This is one recipe that can be made one of two ways, raw or sautéed.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 5 minutes mins

Total Time 25 minutes mins

Course Salad

Cuisine Clean Eating, Gluten Free, Vegan

Ingredients

  

Salad

• 1 bunch kale washed, dried, and chopped
• 2 carrots ribboned with vegetable peeler
• 1/2 cup red cabbage chopped
• 1 avocado peeled, pitted, and cubed
• 1/2 cup English walnuts chopped
• 1/4 cup quinoa
• 1 lemon

Avocado Dressing

• 1 avocado peeled and pitted
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup water

Instructions

 

Salad

• Cook quinoa according to package instructions.
• In a large bowl, add kale, carrots, cabbage, and walnuts. Toss.
• Make avocado dressing while quinoa cooks. Add cooked quinoa.
• Just prior to serving, add avocado.
• Pour dressing over salad and toss to coat.
• Squeeze lemon over entire salad and serve.

Sautéed Kale Salad

• Follow all of the above steps and then heat a nonstick pan over medium heat. Add salad to pan with tongs and toss frequently for 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve.

Avocado Dressing

• Add first six ingredients to a small food processor and pulse several times until smooth.
• Add water 1/4 cup at a time and pulse a few more times.
• Store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Notes

Salad can be made several hours in advance and stored in refrigerator. Make sure to wait to add avocado and dressing just prior to serving.

Sautéed version: Make raw salad and add avocado dressing and then sauté it for 4-5 minutes and serve.

Nutrition Facts includes salad alone. The avocado dressing has 100 Calories per 1/4 cup and 11g fat.

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