Cravin' kale

We are so ready for our little man to get here! I think Elvis might be the most ready...mainly so then I'll stop nesting and giving him tons of projects, rearranging furniture, and cleaning to do! =) 

In the meantime, I'm trying to be very conscientious this pregnancy about eating healthy and getting everything the baby needs. I've been drinking a ton of homemade smoothies with fruits and spinach...can't taste the spinach at all!

 Also, Elvis came up with the plan for us to incorporate one new veggie each week into our diet. The first week was beets....not my fave. The next week was kale...and I fell in love and have not stopped buying it since! It also helps that I can buy a big fresh hunk of it for 33 cents! 

We had a kale fiasco a couple of years ago with a terrible recipe that even Elvis would not eat, so it was pretty much on my vow-to-never-eat-again list. But I did a little research online, and found that if you massage the leaves first with some lemon/lime juice and salt, they are much less tough. 

So that's the first step to this salad that I have been eating practically every single day and it's very important step! You can even put a few drops of olive oil to massage in there too if you want it even more tender. 

We've just been cutting up avocado and grapefruit to put on top with some sunflower seeds, although pretty much any citrus fruit will do and any seed or nut will do. We have tried it with mango (yum! especially if it's on the greener side) and with nectarines. You can also throw some cilantro on there if you want. 

For the dressing, just mix approximately even parts of olive oil, honey, and lime juice. Adjust measurements to your liking. And try to restrain yourself from drinking it straight. 

Pour the dressing on there and let your mouth have its on post-4th-of-July fireworks show! It's so fresh and invigorating and healthy...makes me feel like I can eat a tub of ice cream afterwards because I ingested so much healthy stuff in my salad. 

Tonight we ate it with my friend Kate's recipe for Egyptian lemony red lentil soup. Kate is an awesome and adventurous cook who used to host our monthly vegetarian cooking night from around the world. You should definitely check out her blog if you want some new fun recipes!