My father likes to say that when things are touted as “health” food it’s because “it tastes so bad that people will only eat it if you tell them it’s good for them.” And while I laugh a bit about that – I think that’s pretty fair because in a race between kale and brownies, you bet your butt I’ll be choosing brownies nearly every time. Well, that is until now since I’ve discovered that this bright citrusy kale carrot salad is amazingly easy to prep and eat and it’s all kinds of yummy.

I read a while back that there is a divide amongst the kale aficionados about how kale should be consumed… whether it should be eaten raw or cooked. Personally, I find that raw kale is a a bit difficult on my stomach, so I blanch it quickly here. However, if you feel strongly for raw kale, please feel free to skip the blanching step. I also included a giant pile of ribboned carrots, because my father loves (I mean… LOVES) carrots. And since I had to convince him to partake in a kale salad, when he is a solidly “anti-kale” camper… I knew I had to include carrots. Which brings me to my next little story (before I get into the recipe).  I have read and followed David Lebovitz’s namesake blog about food for as long as I can remember… so when it came to thinking about dressing carrots for a salad, I immediately referred myself to his post on how the French enjoy carrot salad and dressed my entire carroty kale salad in a likewise light and fresh way.

So… without any further asides, here is how I prepared my salad.

Bright Orange Kale Carrot Ribbon Salad (Kaprise Kitchen’s take on kale salad, with a little influence from David Lebovitz)

• One bunch of dinosaur kale, thoroughly washed
• 4 large carrots
• 2 cara cara oranges (or whatever other sweet citrus you can get your hands on)
• 1/4 cup of roasted almonds, coarsely chopped
• 1 ripe avocado, sliced
• 1/2 of a fuji apple, chopped
• salt/pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon of good quality olive oil (less if you like)
• 1 tablespoon of hemp seed
• 1 tablespoon of chia seed

1. After thoroughly scrubbing the debris out of your kale, cut it into thin ribbons, discarding the fibrous stalks where they are too tough (My sister loves the crunchiness, so if you do as well, please feel free to keep them!)
2. In a pot of boiling water, gently toss the kale in and stir until the kale is just cooked. About 20-30 seconds. Immediately drain the kale and let it cool while you prepare the rest of the ingredients (Again, if you like raw kale, feel free to skip the first two steps)
3. Ribbon the carrots – you can use a julienne slicer, box grater, or any method you prefer. I use a vegetable peeler to get thin, long ribbons of carrots – which I prefer to other methods… but again – please choose a method you like most. Set aside the ribbons
4. Over a large bowl, supreme the cara cara oranges and squeeze the membrane and peel to extract the remaining juice into the large bowl. Set the orange segments aside. Alternatively you can use clementine segments instead of going through the mildly tedious process of segmenting your citrus… and to have enough citrus flavor, squeeze one fruit into the bowl (or a splash of juice will do)
5. Peel and slice the apple and avocado into chunks/slices, tossing with the orange juices to prevent browning.
6. Toss the drained kale and ribboned carrots with the orange juice dressed apple and avocado.
7. Drizzle a little olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste.
8. Top your salad with a healthy sprinkle of hemp and chia seed, and of course, my favorite, roasted almonds.
9. ENJOY! (I’ve nestled a little cheese turnover in the salad here, and I’ll post a recipe on that soon!)

How do YOU eat your vegetables? Do you eat your kale raw or cooked????