Pear, bell peppers, olives, red onions and feta with kale sauted in garlic and herbs. These are the ingredients that make this salad so good.

The inspiration

I tell you folks, it’s so great to have friends who believe in eating healthy and exercising and in general a passion for cooking delicious wholesome foods.

I’m especially inspired when friends send me messages with pictures of foods they’ve made. This salad is one such text I received and is definitely up there in awesome share 👌🏼.

I got this lovely text from my friend Shalini sharing a pic of a salad she had made for lunch.

“It’s kale lightly sautéed in olive oil with seasoning and sliced garlic and red chili flakes. Rest is sliced red onion, bell pepper, Bosc pear, a few olives and feta in a lemon and mustard and oil dressing. It was good as the sweetness of pear balanced the slightly bitter kale.”

Lots of good stuff 🥑🥬🫒🫑🌶🥗

With so many good for us ingredients this salad is a sure fire winner. Super food kale, combined with heart healthy garlic and avocado, combined with fresh veggies, combined with olives and feta, all tossed with a lemony vinaigrette. Add in an egg and this salad makes a solid meal that will leave you feeling happy and satisfied.

Or skip the egg and have the salad with a dollop of cottage cheese sprinkled with salt and pepper. This is the way Shalini adds protein to her salads.

Kale, garlic, chili flakes

I don’t know about you guys, but sitting and chewing on raw kale when you really want to enjoy the entire salad is no fun. Dinosaur Kale as we know is very tough and chewy when its tossed raw in a salad.

I like that in this salad kale is sauted in olive oil, garlic and chili flakes before adding it to the salad. Lightly cooking kale takes care of the chewy inconvenience.

Then add in a pear and fresh veggies along with briny olives, feta and lemon dressing, and this makes a phenomenally delicious salad. Give it a try!

Kale and Pear Salad
recipe contributed by Shalini

Ingredients:

1 bunch kale ribs removed and roughly chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
Red chili flakes as much as you want
1 bag of mixed greens
2-3 small bell peppers
Small red onion thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic
1 pear cut into bite size pieces
Olives – as much as you want
Feta cheese – as much as you want
Avocado
1 lemon
Lemon mustard dressing.
4 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice, 4 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp honey, 1 tsp mustard, Salt and pepper. Whisk everything together and set aside.

Directions:

Cook the kale. In a saute pan warm 1 tbsp olive oil. To the oil add the garlic until the aroma is released about 30 seconds, then add the chili flakes and kale and saute until tender about 5 minutes. Turn the stove off and set aside to cool.

Assemble the salad. In a large salad bowl assemble the salad. Place the salad greens, olives, bell peppers, onions, olive, feta and pear. Place the avocado and drizzle with lemon juice to prevent it from browning. Place the boiled eggs on the edges of the platter (if using). Then top with cooked kale.

Drizzle with as much dressing as you want. Toss the salad and serve right away.

Happy Salad Eating! 🥗