*Hail to Kale

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This is one of Chef AJ’s recipes has been modified to support a balanced meal plan. More info here.

Makes 4 servings. One serving provides:
3 oz leafy greens  ½ fat serving
 
Aprx Nutrition For One Serving
Cal: 138 Protein: 6.8g Carbs: 11.5g Fat: 8.7g Fiber: 3.8g

Ingredients

Recipe makes about 9 oz dressing/4 servings.

  • 12 oz curly kale (3 oz per serving)
  • 2 oz (4 Tbsp) almond or peanut butter
  • ½ oz pitted dates
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice
  • ¾ tsp garlic powder
  • 15g/.5oz ginger zest*
  • 1 Tbsp tamari
  • 1/8 tsp guar gum, optional*
  • hot sauce, optional

Instructions

  1. Add dates and water to personal blender and leave sit for 30 minutes or until dates are soft. 
  2. Add all the ingredients except the guar gum and blend until smooth.
  3. Check the consistency. If you want a little more body to the dressing, add the guar gum and immediately blend to incorporate. 
  4. Weigh the total amount of dressing made then divide into 4 equal servings. (See Portion Sizes in notes/tips).
  5. Add dressing to 3 ounces kale. Mix thoroughly to coat all the kale. It’s ideal to massage the dressing into the kale with your hand as the combination of the dressing and the massaging will break down the tough fibers in the kale.
  6. Keep leftover salad in the fridge and use the next day.
  7. Leftover over salad dressing will keep in refrigerator up to 5 days or freeze.

Notes/Tips

Kale – One bundle of kale is around 10 ounces.

Save Time – This salad holds up well, and can be dressed several hours ahead of time.

Ginger – I find it to be easier to weigh the ginger before zesting. Then start zesting, and re-weigh the ginger until it displays that you removed .5 oz/15 g.

Guar gum – comes from the seeds of the guar plant. It is a common ingredient used for thickening and stabilizing. It needs to be blended immediately after adding it to a wet ingredient otherwize it will clump. Do not over use. It takes extremely little. Although it begins to thicken immediately, allow about 5 minutes to fully thicken.

Cooked Kale – Use dressing as a sauce on cooked kale or any vegetable.