Most people know I hate salad. My mother never made us eat salad growing up. We had fresh vegetables and fruits or they were served within soup and stir fry. The concept of eating raw vegetables with dressings was entering foreign territory. When I first moved out of my mom’s house into college where the “salad bar” was the best that the school cafeteria could offer, I said to myself, “I’m not a rabbit. Why would I eat raw vegetables that taste like dirt?”
Okay, so I’m a little bias that Asian food does the best usage of vegetables and fruits. But it doesn’t mean that I haven’t tried some salads that have been phenomenal. It just took courage on my part to try them out.
So as I start my month of “mostly working from home”, I knew I needed to be a bit more careful about what I ate and not eat all the rice and meat I want. I decided a balance of vegetables for lunch and a light dinner would help my sedentary lifestyle. Of course, long walks during morning with my dog is now a must-do on my list.
So my first recipe for the 30 Days of Salad Challenge was strawberry quinoa kale salad.
This salad was by accident really. I cooked only 1 cup of quinoa and it came out to like 3 cups! I thought how am I going to eat all this? So here goes.
Ingredients for Salad
- 2 handful batches of kale
- 5-6 large strawberries
- 1 avocado
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
- salt, for taste
Ingredients for honey cilantro dressing
This was inspired by Gluten Free Cat
- 1/4 cup of cilantro
- 1/4 cup of honey
- 1/4 cup of olive oil
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
Directions
1. Mix the dressing and set aside.
2. Sauteed kale with some olive oil and a dash of salt. I dislike kale when it’s too raw. It requires a lot of massaging and saute is much quicker. Just don’t overuse the oil and salt to keep it healthy.
3. Add all ingredients for salad (kale, quinoa, strawberry and avocao) and fold well. You don’t want to crush the strawberries.
4. Add dressing and serve.
I loved the sweet honey on strawberry, the thickness of the avocado, the grainy taste of the quinoa. And the sauteed kale gave it a bit of a stir fry taste. I promise you that it doesn’t taste like eating raw dirt.
(Yes, I have eaten dirt as a kid. I used to pretend I was making dirt soup…yeah, it was the days before Internet and all so kids had to be quite imaginative.)