Edamame Kale Salad with Tahini Dressing

This Edamamae Kale Salad with Tahini dressing is kind of the dump-any-veggies-in-your-fridge kinda of salad. In addition, everything in this recipe came from Trader Joes - so it wasn't expensive nor does it contain hard-to-find ingredients.

My goal is to help families get healthier foods in their busy bodies as well as create simple recipes that can easily be added to the weekly routines. We all fall victim to the we're just too tired and busy to worry about where dinner is coming from or if the kids had a veggie with their pizza.

Edamame Kale Salad with Tahini Dressing Ingredients

Just look at all the fresh ingredients.

• Edamame - unprocessed soy is so good for you. The bean add protein and fiber.
• Kale - when julienned very thinly and marinated in lemon kale softens and almost tastes cooked. The bitterness disapates. Kale is delicious with tahini dressing.
• Raisins - an added healthy sweetness.
• Zoodles (peeled zucchini) - zucchini peeled into strips taste delicious in salads or over rice.
• Toasted almonds - add a wonderful crunch along with healthy protein and fat.
• Cilantro - and other fresh herbs add so much flavor and color. I add them to everything!
• Tomatoes - raw really ripe tomatoes are the best on salads. And full of the antioxidant lycopene, potassium, and vitamins K and C.

I could eat an edamame kale salad like this with literally nothing but lemon and sea salt for dressing. The freshness and the crunch is sometimes lost when you slather on too much dressing. Simplicity is also great for health reasons - often times salad dressings can be loaded with processed ingredients, sugar, and tons of iodized salt. But homemade oil-free sugar-free tahini dressing is quite the opposite. I love the added fat (from the tahini) and zest of lemon that adds to this dish. You don't even need avocado it's so creamy already. Just a little goes a long way.

Kale Salad Tips: Next time your at Trader Joes grab their pre packaged and boiled edamame beans. So delish! They have a tad bit of salt already which is nice. I marinate my kale in lemon before adding to recipes. It makes it so easy to devour. And the addition of toasted almonds gives the salad a sort of toasty cooked flavor and a crunch.

EDAMAME KALE SALAD WITH TAHINI DRESSING RECIPE

Yields 1 individual salad

INGREDIENTS

¼ cup edamame beans, pre boiled (I used the ones from Traders)

½ cup kale, destemmed + chopped

1 small zucchini, peeled or spiralized

5 cherry tomatoes, chopped into 4 pieces

2 tablespoon raisins

2 tablespoon chopped almonds, toasted

handful fresh herbs likes cilantro

½ lemon, juice

sea salt + pepper

DIRECTIONS

+ In a small bowl combine the chopped kale and the lemon juice, massage. Let sit while you prep the rest of the salad.

+ In a large bowl combine the rest of the ingredients; then add the kale.

+ Toss and add sea salt and pepper to taste.

+ Add ½ tablespoon of tahini dressing (recipe below). Continue to add more dressing to suite your needs.

LEMON TAHINI DRESSING 

Yields ½ cup dressing

INGREDIENTS

¼ cup tahini (I used Trader Joe's brand)

½ tablespoon water

1 ½ lemons, juiced

1 tablespoon vegan mayo

sea salt

DIRECTIONS

+ Blend the above ingredients in a blender until smooth.