overnight kale salad

I’ll be the first to admit I struggle with salad-eating, especially kale salads. Sure, I’ll pick at them if I’m at a restaurant and they come with a meal, but I for me to completely dig into a salad, it’s got to have certain things:

  1. Dark greens – preferably Baby Spring Mix but I’ll settle for spinach, Roma in or massaged kale
  2. Flavorful cheese such as goat, feta or Parmesan
  3. Nuts for crunch – my favorites are walnuts, almonds, pine nuts or pecans and of course any candied kind
  4. Fruit for a little sweetness
  5. Vinaigrette dressing – I’ve grown an aversion to creamy salad dressings over the years (which is a good thing since they’re typically unhealthy)… unless we’re talking chicken wings in which case the wings become a vehicle for my Bleu Cheese & Ranch

I spotted this kale salad in a recent Women’s Health Mag and after quickly scanning the ingredient list for my criteria, decided it looked festively delicious. The fact that it had “overnight” in the name and required no massaging – I couldn’t pass it up. I’m a fan of any dish that makes itself overnight.

Overnight kale salad5

A little champagne vinegar goes a long way – I’m loving whatever magic it works overnight on that kale. I’ve never bought it before before but it’s not surprising I’m such a huge fan – it does have the word champagne in it.  Kale and citrus compliment each other so I opted for the Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar (a new Trader Joe’s fav, by the way) which I now want to put on just about everything – including my hair. Oh and the shallots – how I love them as well. Like the kale, they too soften and sweeten overnight.

I had a couple of the girls over for pizza, salad and a Christmas movie marathon last weekend and between the three of us, we demolished nearly an entire bag of kale thanks to this salad (along with two-thirds of a mushroom pizza, gingerbread bars and a massive bowl of popcorn.

That wasn’t enough though. I went back to the store and picked up another bag of kale a few days later so I could make this salad again. I needed an excuse to use up the leftover pomegranate, right? I’ve made this salad twice in the past 2 weeks now. Twice. A non-salad lover suddenly loves a kale salad.

It’s the perfect holiday side if you’re needing something healthy and festive to put on the table tomorrow! Make it first thing in the morning for a dinnertime meal or right before bed if you’re planning on having a big lunch… 8-12 hours in the fridge is all it needs. Just don’t save any for leftovers – it gets a little soggy the next day, but you probably won’t have any left to save anyway.

Kale – are you a fan or is it a bit too roughage-y for you?

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