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Kale and Salmon Salad (GF)

Monday night's dinner was inspired by a Pinterest recipe from Mind Body Green, called "Autumn Kale & Quinoa Salad." It looked delicious as soon as I saw it pop up in my Facebook feed, so I went to the recipe to check it out. 

Photo cred: Mind Body Green

I'm always looking for new and healthy meal ideas, but they also have to be pretty filling, as I'm feeding two marathon-trainers. This one actually fit the bill. It's hard to see, but the salad does have a decent amount of quinoa in it, so it's not lacking the important carbs that give us energy for training. But of course, as with any recipe I see online, I have to make my own modifications. 

The first one actually came about because, in the picture above, I thought I saw (and still think I see) salmon in the salad. However, salmon is not listed in the original recipe's ingredients. But it seemed like a good addition anyway, so I added it. I also decided to add some chopped red onion, for a bit of a punch. And rather than using regular quinoa, I used a "super-grain" blend of quinoa, millet, and buckwheat. So here's how my adapted recipe came out:

1 head kale (the regular kind)
1 can wild-caught salmon (not the soup-sized can, but the smaller one--the oz. are escaping me)
1/2 c. sliced almonds
1/2 c. dried cranberries
1.5 c. quinoa blend
2 tbs. roasted hemp seeds (I buy mine pre-roasted and seasoned)
2 tbs. olive oil
1-2 tbs. apple cider vinegar
1/2 c. chopped red onion

Next time I probably won't use a green bowl for such a green salad.

I devoured this, and Tim really liked it, too. Lately I get this overwhelming feeling of happiness when I eat something super healthy. The morning after this dinner, I was packing my quinoa salad lunch (which I've been having for weeks now), and I got so happy just looking at it, with all it's beautiful color and healthful ingredients. It sounds (and even feels) ridiculous and very hippie--but hey, if that's what makes me happy, I'll take it. (Unfortunately, cupcakes with an insane amount of icing also make me very happy--in the moment.)

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Unknown said…
YUM! Thanks for the recipe, I copied it and am going to make it!
October 11, 2013 at 12:08 PM
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