Quick Kale Salad Recipe

I love an easy weeknight salad! I had some kale at home and decided to make a quick salad for dinner. It's healthy and low-carb!

Recipe

1 bunch of kale thinly sliced
1 granny smith chopped lengthwise
1/2 cup of walnuts, pistachios or pine nuts

Dressing

2 tbs olive oil
3 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs lemon zest
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp pepper

If you don't have time to make a dressing, the Dean and Deluca Pear Vinaigrette is an amazing alternative! I use that if I have a long night at work. However, I do advocate making your own since it eliminates preservatives.

Mix all ingredients together, serve immediately.

*** You can add some fresh grated parmesan cheese or pecorino romano to the salad. I'm just not a huge pungent cheese fan since it diminishes some of the healthiness of the salad but it's all preference.

Caprese Salad with Balsamic Glaze

Recipe (serves 2)

4 vine-ripen juicy tomatoes (the juicier the better!)
1 cup of fresh basil leaves
1 buffalo mozzarella ball (or any type of mozzarella)
1 tbs of olive oil
1 tbs of fine balsamic vinegar
Balsamic glaze drizzle on top
Dash of freshly grounded pepper and salt

Instructions: Dice up your tomatoes and mozzarella. Toss everything together (except the balsamic glaze). Drizzle the glaze at the end.

Fairly simple recipe! The balsamic glaze is sweet and really binds the whole salad together but it's all preference. You can purchase it at any World Market, Whole Foods and/or regular/specialty grocery store.

Blueberry Lemon Loaf

So my parents are coming to town tomorrow and I wanted to whip up something for "tea time" (yes, we really do that). I found this awesome recipe from a blog called Hearts of Delight for this blueberry lemon loaf (recipe hyperlinked with blog). My mom and I love lemon, so I added some extra zest than the recipe intends. I also add a handful of chopped walnuts for that crunch.

Had to cook it for about 30 minutes longer because my oven is older but it turned out excellent!

If you run in to that issue and need longer to bake, make sure you cover the top of the loaf with aluminum foil so it doesn't burn but remains a nice golden color.

Note: I stated healthy "kinda" only because it still contains a TON of sugar. All in all, there is no butter, so I consider this a tea time success.