Kale and Butternut Salad with Maple Spiced Pecans

Kale and Butternut Salad with Maple Spiced Pecans ~ a simple vegan salad full of superfood nutrients and fall flavors.  This is the way you’re going to balance out all those heavy meals on your holiday menus…no Turkey Pants at your house this year ;)

I intentionally kept this kale salad on the spare side because I envisioned it as a side salad for the cooler months and the holidays.  When you’re serving comfort food or a heavy holiday meal you don’t want a heavy salad to go with it, you want something light for balance.

The little touch of luxury in this otherwise superfood salad is the maple spiced pecans ~ yum!  I have a method that I think is the best for making these little nuggets of joy.  I don’t want them to be sweet like candy, nor do I want them to be overpoweringly spiced.  My method is easier than most, with no messy egg white involved,

The pecans are just perfect, not too sweet or too spicy.  They’re so good you’ll find yourself hunting and pecking for them through the kale, so better make plenty.  You can snack on any extras, just pop them in a mason jar.

The dressing~

The dressing is half the show, so listen up!  I put walnut oil (you can use olive) cider vinegar, mustard, and maple syrup in a mason jar and screw on the lid tight, then I shake shake shake until it emulsifies into a creamy dressing.  Once emulsified the dressing won’t separate.

Butternut squash is delicious but it can be a pain to peel and slice.  I do it the easy way, no peeler needed ~ I slice the neck into thin slices, then stack a couple of layers at a time and slice way the peel.  Then I can easily dice the stack.  Easy peasy.

The secret to doing kale salad right ~

• Kale has a reputation for being tough when eaten raw, but it’s all in how you slice it.  Make sure to remove the tough stems that run down the middle of each leaf, then stack all the bits and pieces up and slice them with a sharp knife into very thin (1/8 inch) shreds.

• The thin slicing automatically tenderizes the kale while maintaining its fresh crunch.  No massaging…please!

• Note: for this recipe I prefer curly kale over the darker lacinto kale, which has a blue/green color and a nubbly leaf, but either will work.

Make this kale and butternut salad your own ~

• Switch out the pecans for walnuts.

• If you want to serve this more like a main course salad you can add any number of extras ~

  • chopped cheddar cheese or crumbled blue cheese

  • sunflower seed kernels

  • crumbled bacon

  • shredded rotisserie chicken