Kale, Carrot and Beet Salad

Red, Green and Orange Salad to Fight the Winter Blues

 

This Kale, Carrot and Beet Salad may feature the colors of the holiday season but it guides me into the new year.  Redemption for overindulgence is in the form of a hearty winter salad, offering health and therefore hope for 2015.  While I easily surrender to the sluggishness caused by gloomy winter days, even I can’t deny the lift bright colors inspire.

This salad also is an attempt to make the best out of what tastes fresh this time of year.  In our area, we are lucky to enjoy a year-round farmer’s market.  I try to make dishes using what I can forage in the market rather than what I can grab at the grocery store. However, this salad is a combination of both.

I find some purple-edged kale, jewel-toned carrots and red beets at the market.  The grocery supplies juicy oranges and Meyer lemons (only available in winter but regular lemons are fine, too.)  Citrus provides a bright punch of much needed acidity, which I welcome anytime but particularly during dark winter days.

I think kale is best in winter. Its leaves seem imbued with a bit of sweetness, more so than at any other time of year.   The girls remove the thick ribs and rub the leaves with olive oil and coarse sea salt then set aside.

The oil and salt help “cure” the leaves and soften any hard edges. I find my kids accept kale leaves sometimes more readily than traditional green leaves in a salad perhaps because they have a hearty structure which prevents them from getting soggy.

Sweet tender carrots and raw beets receive a brief soaking in orange and lemon juices then are piled atop the kale.

You don’t think your kids will like this but the flavors of orange and salt are familiar, which should help, and their involvement with the preparation even more so.  It’s rare that my kids turn away something they create.

Kale, Carrot and Beet Salad is easy and filling, and it’s hard not to embrace its bright cheeriness. The year starts as it should, full of hope for new energy, colorful days and meals to share together.  Wishing you the same for a very happy and healthy new year.