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lunch

Kale-idoscope Salad

Eat the rainbow with this good for you kale-idoscope of vegetables

Sometimes, for whatever reason, you feel like you just have to eat the rainbow. Maybe you’ve been eating boring foods. Maybe you’ve been eating unhealthy foods. Maybe you just want some color in your life. For me, it’s usually the second – my body is craving nutrients, and colors, in the vegetable world, equal nutrients.

This salad recipe will help you taste the rainbow – courtesy of vegetables, not skittles. It’s easy, even easier if you by pre-chopped veggies, and a good one to meal prep for a weekday lunch or have the ingredients on hand post-travel. Because let’s be honest… if this recipe isn’t easy, what’s going to give you the incentive to turn rabbit for a meal?

Ingredients:*

(Makes two servings)

For the salad –

  • 2 cups romaine, chopped**
  • 2 cups baby kale leaves**
  • 1.5 cups purple cabbage, chopped
  • 1 cup canned chickpeas (~half can)
  • 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1/2 cucumber, quartered and sliced
  • 1/2 cup sunflower seeds

For the dressing –

  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
  • Heaping spoonful of white miso paste

Directions:

(Total Time: 20 minutes)

  1. Prep first! Wash & chop your romaine, kale, purple cabbage, cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers. Rinse and dry your canned chickpeas.
  2. Add all salad ingredients to a large serving bowl.
  3. Add olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and white miso paste to a salad dressing shaker*** or small bowl, and whisk (if a bowl) or shake (if a shaker) to combine.
  4. When ready to serve, drizzle dressing over salad ingredients, and toss to combine. Do not do this until you’re ready to eat – if you’re meal prepping, you want to keep your salad separate from your dressing, or else you’ll be in for a sad, soggy salad!

Notes:

* If after reading this recipe, you’re looking to add more oomf to your salad, I’d recommend adding a sliced avocado (for more protein) and/or a side slice of sourdough toast (for carbs).

** Lazy girl hack: buy pre-cut, pre-washed romaine and baby kale leaves (I’d recommend organic). Let’s be honest, sometimes, you gotta make it easy on yourself so that you actually make the recipe you saved and said you would to be healthy. If that line of thought sounds remotely familiar… just buy the pre-cut veggies 🙂

*** A salad dressing shaker is under $15 and life changing for anyone who makes (or wants to start making) their own salad dressing – my OXO one measures ingredients, mixes ingredients, and serves/stores the dressing. See more of my kitchen musts here!

What can I learn while I make this? Red cabbage and purple cabbage are the SAME THING! Sometimes, you just can’t make this up. Despite red and purple being very different colors, this poor vegetable can be called either red cabbage or purple cabbage. Am I projecting because as I redhead, I’d loathe to be told I can also be called a “purplehead?” Perhaps. But as an English major I really do take fault with this lapse in naming.

What if I want to make an easy work lunch but not this recipe? Don’t worry– I won’t be offended! Check out these other ideas below:

Want more Carmel Kama’aina content? Follow me on Instagram. All my latest recipes and behind the scenes tricks are published first on Instagram. Sneak a peek below:

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