Golden Kale Salad

This week is seriously flying by! Thank you all so much for the love on my Youtube Video! I’m overwhelmed with the positive response and support from all of my bunnies. You guys are so encouraging and I am beyond excited to make more videos ASAP!

It’s so crazy that Matt’s week an a half home between tours is already over, it went by way too fast! On Wednesday morning I drove him to the airport at 5:30am and dropped him off for the next leg of the Pierce the Veil/Sleeping with Sirens tour in Europe and the UK. This leg is only 3 weeks long, which makes being thousands of miles apart seem like a piece of cake compared to the last run which was 2 months! I can’t wait for him to come back so he can be my taste tester again. I mean, he missed out on an amazing kale salad today! Although I’m sure the waffles he’s eating in Belgium right now are pretty darn good.

The first time I had this salad was a couple of weekends ago when my mom and I were at the UCLA Theta house for an alumni tea! As I was inhaling this salad I asked my mom “did the girls have Lemonade cater the event?” I asked one of the girls at our table who catered the event and she very excitedly said “Maddy and her mom made everything!” Um, what?! One of the college chapter girls (Maddy S., head of Alumnae Relations) made all of the delish healthy salads and veggie dishes at the event! I was seriously so impressed by her talent! I mean, I thought the entire event was catered! I immediately had to go and find Maddy and ask her for this kale salad recipe, which she told me that her mom learned about from Smitten Kitchen! I obsessed over this salad since the first time I had it, and I have been making it nonstop ever since!

You guys already know this about me, but if I make a recipe that yields 4-6 servings, I will literally eat the entire thing in one sitting. I don’t know why, but sometimes I feel like I was born without any real sense of fullness or portion control. Even after years of staying pretty on track, it’s still hard for me. If there’s a gigantic bowl of macaroni and cheese sitting in front of me, I’ll most likely finish the entire thing, and if I know there’s leftovers in the fridge I’ll eat them… so I’ve found that the best way to control portions is to only make one serving at a time. Hence the single serving meals! Plus I’m only cooking for myself most of the time anyways! I know a lot of my readers are young and not cooking for families, so single serving meals are a great fit for their lifestyle, but for my readers who do cook for their families and baby bunnies, all of my recipes can easily be doubled, tripled, etc. to fit their needs! All bunnies are accepted here, my blog isn’t one size fits all. I just like to show you what works for me!

When it comes to removing stems and ribs from lacinato kale, I’ve found that removing the leaves by hand from the base upward is much easier than trying to cut them off with a knife.

Golden Kale Salad
Serves 1

2 cups lacinato kale, chopped
¼ cup panko bread crumbs
¼ cup pecorino cheese (or parmesan)
2 Tbsp golden raisins
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp walnuts, chopped
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil

1. Rinse kale. Remove heavy stems and ribs from kale. Stack sections of leaves on top of one another and roll them into a tube, then cut them into very thin ribbons crosswise.
2. In a small saucepan over low heat, simmer white wine vinegar, water and raisins for 5 minutes, until plump and soft. Set aside in liquid.
3. In a small bowl, mix lemon juice and olive oil.
4. Place chopped kale in a large bowl. Add lemon juice and olive oil mixture and massage into the kale until evenly coated.
5. Add panko bread crumbs, raisins (without excess liquid), pecorino, and walnuts.
6. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving, if you can, as it helps the ingredients come together.

If you have extra time, this salad is even better with toasted walnuts! Heat oven to 350. Toast walnuts on a baking sheet for 10 minutes, tossing once. Let cool and coarsely chop before adding to your Golden Kale Salad

The Rabbit Food Pyramid Breakdown:
Produce: kale and golden raisins
Whole Grain: panko bread crumbs*
Protein: pecorino cheese
Plant Based Fat: walnuts and olive oil

*Although panko bread crumbs are not whole wheat, they are made of wheat, so when it comes to the Rabbit Food Pyramid, they fit in the whole grain portion of the puzzle for a balanced rabbit food meal!

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen