I’ve always enjoyed a good salad. Just the concept of a salad pleases me. The combination of textures and flavors are infinite! I’ve never shied away from tossing random leftovers onto a bed of lettuce and calling it the greatest lunch ever. There was also a short period of time in the winter of 2009 when I rather enjoyed eating cold lentil soup over baked kale but that’s just bizarre and totally behind me now. Anyway, I’m always up for a salad!

A lingering cold from last week has me desperately seeking vitamin C so I threw together this salad with blood oranges and kale (both of which contain plenty of the coveted nutrient.) Kale nears the top of my favorite things list and I appreciate its offerings in every form but sometimes eating raw kale just feels kind of… aggressive. You know? It’s such a robust leaf that putting it in a delicate salad requires a bit of strategy. I recently discovered that massaging an oil into the leaves totally mellows them out! Raw kale forever!

I added avocado to the salad to soften the bite of the citrus and some lightly toasted pumpkin seeds for a bit of crunch. My new bottle of orange muscat champagne vinegar was an easy choice for the dressing which I whisked with EVOO, agave, poppy seeds and a shallot. Results? Irresistible. These are definitely my salad days.

Kale and Blood Orange Salad

Salad Ingredients:

1 Bunch Kale, stems removed, coarsely chopped

1 T EVOO

3 Blood Oranges, peeled and sliced into rounds

1 Avocado, pit removed, diced

¼ C Raw Pumpkin Seeds, lightly toasted in a dry skillet

Dressing Ingredients:

1 Shallot, diced

3 T EVOO

1 tsp Agave Sweetener

2 T Orange Muscat Vinegar

1 T Poppy Seeds

Directions: Place Kale in a large salad bowl and add 1 T EVOO. Toss kale lightly to coat and then slowly massage the oil into the leaves until they are a darker green and tender. This should take about five minutes. Add blood orange rounds, avocado and pumpkin seeds.

Make the dressing: whisk the EVOO, agave, and orange Muscat vinegar with shallots and poppy seeds until well combined. Dress salad lightly in 2 stages, tossing salad in between. Serve immediately and enjoy!