Holiday festivities are in full swing and that means it’s time to start planning another healthy holiday feast. The trickiest part of meal planning is balancing the rich comfort foods with a good dose of greenery. This Kale Pomegranate Salad is an easy way to add in a zesty fiber-rich veggie side!
When flipping through holiday recipes for inspiration, it feels like everything is either covered in a stick of butter or packed with sugar. Don’t get us wrong – we love butter and chocolate, but we like to have some balance on our tables.
And this time of year there is no better way to balance out our 80:20 than with a nutrient-dense green salad.
This winter-friendly salad boasts a raw base of enzyme-rich leafy green kale, topped with protein-rich crunchy chickpeas, creamy avocado, and a craveable tahini dressing.
The contrast between the bright green kale and pink pomegranate seeds makes this dish a feast for the eyes and the tummy.
For easier digestion, make sure you massage your kale with a tablespoon or two of oil and a pinch of salt before you assemble the salad. Massaging helps break down some of those tough kale cell walls so your jaw and stomach don’t have to do as much work!
Aim for organic kale when you’re doing your shopping. Kale has a nasty habit of sucking up heavy metals from the soil it grows in, so getting organic (or even locally grown if you can!) helps minimize any risk of contamination.
We hope you enjoy this recipe! It gets even better as it sits in the fridge, so we highly recommend making enough to have some left over :).
Until next time, have a healthy and happy holiday season!
With love and holiday cheer,
The Conscious Cleanse Team
Kale Pomegranate Salad with and Tahini Dressing
Yield: 8-10 small salads
Ingredients:
- 1 15-ounce can chickpeas
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
- 1 large avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced
- 1 large bunch kale, stems removed, roughly chopped and massaged with 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp sea salt
Ingredients for the dressing:
- 1/2 cup tahini
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice ( about 1 lemon)
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tsp honey
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 425º F. Spread chickpeas on a large baking sheet. Drizzle 2 tbsp olive oil on chickpeas and toss on the pan. Sprinkle chickpeas with 1/2 tsp sea salt. Roast the chickpeas for 20 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp. Remove from the oven and let cool.
In a large bowl, toss massaged kale, chickpeas, pomegranate seeds, and avocado.
To make the dressing, combine tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, honey and sea salt in a high-speed blender. Pulse to blend, occasionally scraping down the sides to mix.
Drizzle dressing over salad and gently toss. To serve, transfer salad to a large serving bowl. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and a pinch of sea salt (optional). Serve salad immediately or chill for 2 hours.
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