Today I woke up feeling l-a-z-y! With the wedding coming up, organizing my life and planning a few trips I have been going non-stop BUT not non-stop enough to neglect eating well, working out and meditating! It’s all about balance 🙂

Today’s featured salad (a kale salad)  is massive and makes enough for 5-6 people.  It is the perfect size for the dinner I am throwing tonight for my siblings. I start all my meals with a big salad. Having a salad with dinner allows you eat a ton of vegetables, fill up on fiber, and gives you a dose of enzymes. And you all know how I love enzymes!

This salad is a lazy kale salad because we prepped it at lunch and made enough for dinner. It’s not really lazy but cuts out the prep for a second meal ( I should give credit to my loving fiance, who prepared the salads in an ‘assembly line’ fashion – he is so efficient!). The 2 star ingredients  in this salad are beets and kale. If you read my last post on green juice and chlorophyll you will know why kale is amazing, but to be honest every vegetable is a star in my eyes but if I wrote about them all I would be here all day and I wouldn’t be able to be lazy 😉

I also used a lot of spiralized vegetables in this salad to change the texture. Having more tools in the kitchen to transform vegetables into different shapes and textures keeps salads ‘fresh’ and not boring. It’s quite insane that a spiralized versus a chopped cucumber has a different affect when you eat it. The cucumber noodle is jelly-like while a chopped cucumber can be more juicy and chunky. Try it out and see!

Star Ingredients:

Kale

If you have any inclination towards healthy eating then you definitely have heard of kale. I can still remember hearing about kale and not knowing anything about it but now I can tell the difference between curly kale, Russian kale and Lacinato or dinosaur kale. I buy kale every time I go to the store and I eat it pretty much every day!

Kale provides a large source of amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein. Protein is needed in the body to build muscle, tissues and is a component of enzymes. Kale contains chlorophyll which helps to purify the blood and make our skin look clear and healthy. Kale is a powerhouse that contains antioxidants known as carotenoids and flavonoids. These compounds protect your cells from free radical damage which causes oxidative damage and can lead to rapid aging, cancer, and heart disease. In particular, the flavonoids kaempferol and quercitin have been shown to specifically reduce the formation of cancerous cells. Kale also contains the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin which act like sunglasses to help protect the eyes from UV light and the formation of cataracts.

In addition, kale supplies omega-3 fats! This essential fatty acid cannot be produced in the body and needs to be obtained from food. Omega-3 fats fight inflammation, help to reduce weight, and regulate hormones in the body. Kale is a good source of vitamin K which helps with reducing inflammation caused by stiff joints and arthritis. Vitamin K is essential to building strong bones in conjunction with calcium.

Beets

I love beets in my salads. They add a beautiful bright colour, a touch of sweetness and are a potent liver detoxifier. The red colour of beets is due to the pigment betacyanin. This pigment helps to detoxify the liver and helps to oxygenate the blood. Oxygenated blood makes us feel more energetic, vibrant and awake.

Beets are also a great source of iron. Think red = blood building! Beets are full of antioxidants and the minerals manganese and copper which scavenge free-radicals.

Lazy Kale Salad

Salad:

Please use organic ingredients for the most nutrition. Makes 5-6 servings

• 1-2  heads kale, cut into ribbons
• 2 beets spiralized or grated
• 1 zucchini spiralized or grated
• ½ cucumber spiralized or grated
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes cut into halves
• 3 sprigs of green onions chopped
• 2 handfuls of sprouts
• 2 carrots grated
• 4 mushrooms sliced

Directions:

1. Toss all ingredients together and add you favorite dressing. Have this salad with a little bit or olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice and sea salt OR your favorite dressing like  The Happiness Sauce or this Easy Asian-Inspired Dressing.

Enjoy salad with lunch or dinner making sure 50-75% of your meal is full of fresh vegetables as this will help to fill your body with amazing minerals, vitamins, phytonutrients, and enzymes! You are what you eat so make it count!

~M

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~M