Quinoa Kale Salad with Grapes
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1 large bunch kale, stems and ribs removed
2 cups red grapes, cut in half (strawberries might be good too)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
Dressing
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp honey or maple syrup
1/4 cup olive or avocado oil
1/2 tsp salt
Rinse quinoa well and cook it. Allow it to cool.
Mix dressing ingredients.
Remove ribs and stems from kale and chop it into salad sized pieces. Wash well, drain, then add a bit of salt and a tbsp of olive oil and "knead" it for a minute or two. This will soften it up.
Combine kale, grapes, and quinoa and add dressing and mix. Sprinkle almonds on top.
Color commentary: I've made this twice in the last week and am a bit obsessed. Joe's not really a kale afficionado, but he really enjoyed it too. I was inspired to do this after having some really good salads at, of all places, the San Francisco airport. Seriously. If you're ever getting food there, check out the Dogpatch Cafe and skip the sandwiches. Even the flight attendants commented on how good my salad looked. I had a quinoa-kale salad, a butternut squash salad with pepitas and grapes, and some sriracha tofu. They all mixed together in the container, so when I decided to recreate the quinoa-kale salad I also added grapes.
I found a recipe that looked to have the right flavor profile*and modified it. It came out pretty close to what I had at the airport. The grapes add a bit of sweetness without taking over like dried cranberries would've done.
* I really ought to link to the recipe I used but they made me scroll through so much commentary, pictures, ads etc that I refuse to give them the web traffic.
