Kale Salad with Oranges, Almonds and Avocado (the “detox” salad)

So….when I was in Louisiana, I ate a lot. Like, a lot a lot. Like, way more than could ever be considered good and healthy a lot. Breakfasts consisted of donuts, coffee, bacon and eggs, lunches were big doughy sandwiches deliciously doused with hot sauce and dinner were….well, dinners were out of control (think pecan fried catfish with rum butter sauce).

Make no mistake, everything was absolutely delicious and I enjoyed every single finger lickin’ bite. I try to follow an 80/20 principle in my life. I tell myself that if I eat healthy 80% of the time, that means 20% of the time I can eat all the fried catfish, candied bacon and chocolate cake I want. It works for me.

That being said, I had no problem stuffing my face for three days straight on my trip because I knew that when I came back home, I’d do a little detox and then everything would resume as normal.

First, let me tell you my hardcore “detox” only lasted for two days. It took me two days to get really, really, REALLY hungry again and that was my body saying “hi! remember me? i like bread!”. So there. I didn’t detox to lose any weight, either. I really just wanted to feel a little less greasy, you know? And guess what? It totally worked!

For two days, I drank a TON of green juice and ate my body weight in this kale salad. I made a light and citrusy dressing from freshly squeezed orange juice and olive oil, and tossed almonds, avocado and more oranges in my salad for a little extra substance.

Just look at how pretty this dressing is! It’s practically begging to be poured on some kale.

When paired when some miso soup, this salad is the perfect light dinner if you’re detoxing or not. And the best part is that it lasts several days in the fridge (and only seems to become better as it sits!), so I recommend doubling this recipe if you love kale. No need to double the dressing recipe though—you’ll have extra.

After a couple days of juice, kale salad and miso soup (with some sweet potatoes and lentils thrown in there for good measure), I felt as good as new and ready for another round of pecan fried catfish and biscuits.

Kale Salad with Oranges, Almonds and Avocado

makes one giant salad (with leftover dressing)

Print this recipe!

Ingredients:

1 bunch lacinato kale (“dinosaur” kale”), washed and roughly chopped

2 juicy oranges

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 avocado, diced

2 tbsp sliced toasted almonds

pinch of sea salt

pinch of black pepper

Directions:

First, make the dressing. Combine the juice of one orange with the olive oil, pinch of sea salt and pepper. Shake or stir until very well combined. Set aside.

To assemble the salad, peel the other orange and separate the sections (peeling off the white pith as best you can). Chop orange sections roughly and place in a bowl with the kale, chopped avocado and almonds.

Drizzle about half the dressing over salad and toss well to coat. Enjoy now or stick in the fridge and eat later (this salad will stay good for a couple days in a covered container in the fridge). Dressing will stay good in a sealed jar for a about a week.

Time:

5 minutes

 

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Tagged as: detox, healthy, salads, vegan, vegetarian