When I come up with recipe ideas each week, I start by seeing if I can fit it into my nutrition plan for the week. The last three weeks, I’ve had a new level of carb cycling – low, medium, and high carb days. Last week’s Queso Veggie Quesadillas fit nicely onto my high carb days and this salad was created to fit my medium carb days.
I love packing veggies into my meals and the combination of both kale and broccolini is a great way to add some variety. If you’ve never had broccolini before, this is a great excuse to try this hybrid of broccoli and kai-lan. It’s a sweeter green that is slightly sweeter and high in vitamin C.
Of course, the star of this recipe is this week’s key ingredient – raisins! Raisins are dried grapes and are very high is sugar. They can also be toxic to dogs, so don’t let your puppies clean up any spilled fruit from the floor. Raisins are one of those foods that I shouldn’t like, since I don’t like grapes, but I’ve found there are lots of food preferences that don’t make logical sense. I just follow what my tongue enjoys!
I’ve included a few ranges in this recipe, but the version I made at home contained the upper limit of all ingredients. I enjoyed it packed with everything, but I recognized that some people might want a little less in their salad.
- 20 ounces Broccolini
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 6 cup kale
- 1/4 cup MCT Oil (or Extra-Virgin Olive Oil)
- 1 1/3 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/3 tablespoon bragg’s aminos
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup raisin
- 3 – 6 ounces bacon tempeh
- Start by steaming the broccolini for 5 minutes, or until the desired degree of tenderness. Toss with crushed red pepper.
- While steaming, tear kale leaves from ribs and place leaves in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix together oil through nutritional yeast. Pour over kale and massage for 3-5 minutes or until leaves begin to soften.
- Add broccolini to kale and mix together well. Top with raisins and tempeh, tossing until combined. Divide into 4 portions and enjoy!
- Note: salad stays fresh for up to 1 week if stored in Tupperware in refrigerator.
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Questions for you:
- Do you have a strange food preferences – like how I enjoy raisins (and wine!), but don’t like grapes?
- Did you ever eat those little boxes of raisins as a kid?