I’ve never in my life wanted to ask someone
for a salad recipe!” – Laura K.
The evening before my first brunch, it occurred to me that the only items on the menu my two gluten-free friends would be able to eat were the steamed asparagus and fresh strawberries. I searched online for a recipe that would use ingredients I already had on hand and found a recipe for a kale salad that had roasted vegetables and lentils. Yum.
Turned out I didn’t have any lentils on hand (okay, actually I did, but my pantry was so disorganized that I didn’t find them until a few days later <heavy sigh>), but what I did find was a packet of Seeds of Change Quinoa & Brown Rice. I had bought a case at Costco some time back. It makes a delicious meal all on its own and only takes
90 seconds in the microwave (now that’s MY idea of cooking dinner after a long day at work). Tell you what, it was the perfect ingredient for my kale salad. Time to get another case.
Here’s a link to print the recipe for Kale & Roasted Sweet Potato Salad, and below is a step-by-step description of how I made it. I recommend this salad for any meal. Delish!
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Peel and cube a large sweet potato. You can use any kind, but I prefer the jewel sweet potato because its color and flavor are yam-like but it has the high fiber of a sweet potato.
- Chop a red onion into large wedges.
- Toss the sweet potato and onion with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. I find it easiest to put the vegetables and oil in a plastic bag and kneed the veggies to coat evenly.
- Spread the vegetables on a baking sheet covered with foil and season to taste. My seasoning of choice for probably half of everything I cook is McCormick’s Garlic Pepper. That’s all I used on these veggies and I can’t imagine them tasting any better.
- Roast for approximately 40 minutes until veggies are tender and edges are nicely browned.
- Remove and discard the tough kale stems and slice the curly leaves into bite-sized pieces.
- Add two tablespoons olive oil and one finely minced clove of garlic to a saucepan over medium high heat. Sauté until garlic is tender and slightly browned, about two minutes.
- Add the kale and cook until it is wilted but still slightly crunchy, about five minutes.
- Tear open a packet of Seeds of Change Quinoa & Brown Rice and microwave for 90 seconds. Pour contents over kale.
- Combine roasted veggies, kale and quinoa and brown rice. Serve warm or chilled.
