It was 84F today and I didn’t want to warm up the kitchen by cooking. Luckily, there were a few bunches of kale in the fridge, two carrots from the garden, and more kumquats than I know what to do with from the neighbor’s yard. Dinner was kale salad. I get this paranoia when I make salad that it wouldn’t be filling enough. Maybe that’s why I ended up adding so much stuff to it.

The kale was de-ribbed, washed, rinsed, and dried. Then I made a dressing of preserved meyer lemons, the juice of half a fresh meyer lemon, olive oil, salt, cayenne pepper, brown sugar, and black pepper.  I shook the dressing in a small bottle, dumped it onto the kale, and got my hands in there massaging the oil into the salad.  Once every leaf was evenly coated, I let it sit for 45 minutes. It’s important to let the kale sit so that it can tenderize in the dressing.

In the meantime, I did some yoga (wow, kale AND yoga??), sliced up two small carrots, a handful of dates, and a handful of kumquats. I also added some roughly chopped pistachios and chopped tempeh bacon I crisped up in a pan.  At the last minute, I chopped up a pretty ripe avocado, added everything to the kale, and smushed it around with my bare hands. Barbaric, I know.

I’m happy to say the salad kept me and Will pretty full for dinner.