Roasted Chickpea and Kale Salad

Kale makes a wonderful base for this hearty dinner salad. Use any dressing you like or try the Roasted Carrot and Ginger dressing below. The fruit and veggies you use may be different than pictured but with the base of kale and roasted chickpeas you can't go wrong.

My garden kale is growing like a weed and the radishes and strawberries are coming along nicely. Garden cucs coming soon!

 

Ingredients:

1 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained

3/4 cup sliced/diced carrots

olive oil

salt and pepper

Roasted Carrot and Ginger Dressing:

1/2 cup roasted carrots

1/3 - 1/2 cup water

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tbsps apple cider vinegar

2 tsps minced ginger

1/4 tsp (herbed) salt

2 tsps honey

a bunch of kale leaves, de-stemmed and torn

1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp olive oil, salt

1 cup roasted chickpeas

sliced papaya

sliced radishes

strawberries

diced cucumber

diced red pepper

dried cranberries

sesame seeds

(you can add cooked chicken if you're not going vegetarian)

To begin, toss the carrots and chickpeas separately in some olive oil and place on a lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast at 400°F for 25 minutes.

To make the dressing blend the roasted carrots and 1/3-1/2 cup water in a blender, then add the rest of the dressing ingredients. Whirl until smooth then chill in the fridge. For this batch I used 1/3 cup of water. You can see it's a little thick.

Next wash, de-stem and tear the kale into a large bowl. Add lemon juice, olive oil and a pinch of salt and massage into the leaves until they turn soft and a little greener. You can refrigerate this a couple of hours.

Then just start adding veggies and fruit to your plate.

And top with your dressing.

Serves 3-4

Adapted from: loveandlemons.com