Salads make me happy! Just kidding. But this Kale Quinoa Salad did! I am pretty obsessed with this salad dressing. I use it on everything. Like… everything. And the nice part is that I almost always have the ingredients for it around my kitchen. So that makes life easy. If you’re not into nutritional yeast (like my husband who thinks that it’s bottled dirt), you can definitely skip that ingredient. However I will say that it is a great way to add a little vitamin B12 into your life! And it gives you that cheesy flavor without the cheese. So basically I’m saying that I’ll judge you if you don’t use it. But you don’t have to…
This salad is also a great meatless meal. I am by no means a vegetarian (or heaven forbid a vegan), but I’m all about the occasional meatless meal. Gotta decrease that saturated fat! But it’s still loaded with protein from the eggs, edamame, and quinoa. Protein is key for a meatless meal (and every meal for that matter). I even threw in a good healthy fat (avocado).
Protein- check
Carbs- check
Healthy fat- check
Kale Quinoa Salad
Dressing Ingredients:
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast (optional)
• Red pepper flakes to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste
Salad ingredients:
• 1 cup kale, chopped
• 1/4 cup shelled edamame
• 2 Tablespoons pomegranate seeds
• 1/3 of a cucumber, sliced
• 1/3 cup cooked quinoa (I cook mine in chicken broth to add flavor)
• 1/3 of an avocado, sliced
• 2 eggs, poached
Directions:
1. Mix all dressing ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Prepare salad ingredients.
3. Mix dressing with kale, edamame, pomegranate seeds, and cucumber. Top with quinoa, avocado, and eggs.
