My 1st Vlog & Recipes for Kale Salad & Bean Salad

Got kale? Kale is so good for you for many reasons. Well today, I shot my first video on how to make a simple raw kale salad. It was so good that I had to do a 2nd take and still forgot two key ingredients: the garlic and onions. Whoops…  It still tasted good, and I got the point across: That raw kale can be made palatable and yummy with a few simple ingredients: 

• 2 heads kale – Rip the leaves from the main stem into small pieces. This is the most tedious part.
• olive oil – about 2 Tbsp. Massage the oil into the kale with your hands. Yes get down and dirty.
• balsamic vinegar – a few drops to taste, maybe 2 Tbsp.
• lemon – 1/4 – 1/2 of a 1 lemon (The amount of balsamic vinegar to lemon should close to 1:1.)
• avocado – I use 1/2 of 1 mashed up. If you want the salad to be creamier, use a whole avocado. It’s loaded with good fat!
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 garlic clove or more if you’re a garlic fiend like me. I like to soak the crushed garlic in the balsamic.
• onion – about a handful chopped
• orange (optional) – I like to use the juice of half an orange to sweeten it. Some people feel adding the orange causes gas,  so you decide.

• any kind of crushed nuts, like almonds or walnuts. I like to use those or hemp hearts.
• cayenne pepper or chili powder to give it heat
• jalapeno peppers – My Uncle Leo would totally dig that.
• quinoa to get an extra carb and protein hit
• sliced apples
• sliced red peppers
• dried cranberry or raisins
• IT’S UP TO YOU! Use whatever you have in your pantry and your imagination to combine flavors you love.

A big thank you goes out my cousin, Arnold Alina & crew for shooting and to the encouraging studio audience who took time out of their day to support me and learn about kale – how exciting! Arnold will be out with the video in a few weeks, and I’ll post it here.

In the meantime, I had a few other guests express interest in the ingredients of the bean salad I brought to complement the kale salad. I should have taken a picture of the bowl because it was pretty and colorful but it got downed so quickly, and I didn’t think of it. I did take a photo of the ingredients however. Below is the list:

• A bag of black beans which I boiled in water for 1 1/2 hrs. after soaking them in water for 24 hrs. Then I rinsed them and went to town with the rest of the ingredients.
• can of black-eyed peas
• can of organic corn
• can of pitted black olives – You can get better, fresher ones from the Stop & Shop salad bar
• a small handful of jalapeno peppers – from a jar or fresh.
• lots of olive oil, maybe 1/2 cup judging from how much I kept pouring
• lots of apple cider vinegar, ditto
• To sweeten it, instead of sugar, I used a few drops of liquid stevia
• Now for the spices: a little oregano, dab of of chili powder, salt & pepper to taste
• And finally, the living things: red pepper (or any color pepper), celery, red onion, cilantro, garlic, and ginger. Put as much or as little of each of these things.