Meatless Monday: Simple Kale Salad with Gluten-Free Croutons

There are two reasons that I will be eating a lot of salad for the next little while. One, I want to feel energetic and have glowing skin on my wedding day, which is in six (!) weeks. Two, there is no air conditioning in my apartment, and with the hot, humid weather we’ve been having, I’d rather not stand in our tiny kitchen with the oven on full blast.

I don’t mind, though – because with produce at its freshest, there is nothing tastier than salad right now.

On Sunday, I biked over to our local farmers’ market and picked up a huge bunch of kale, the most delicious little cucumbers (which are great on their own, sprinkled with a bit of salt and pepper) onions, and variety of other fresh produce.

Dinner was possibly the most simple salad I’ve ever made – and it tasted delicious.

Ingredients

2 big handfuls of kale, torn off the stems into bite-sized pieces
Juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
Maple syrup or agave nectar, to taste (I used 1/2 tsp)
Half a red pepper, chopped
2 small, fresh cucumbers, sliced
1 slice gluten-free bread
1 tbsp non-dairy margarine (I used Zen Budda’s Buttery Spread – you can also use Earth Balance)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tso nutrional yeast (optional)

Directions

Massage lemon juice, olive oil and maple syrup into kale leaves. Set aside.  In a pan on medium heat, melt margarine. Chop bread into crouton-sized squares and add to pan. Sprinkle with garlic powder and nutrional yeast. Cook until crispy. Set aside.

Assemble salad: On your base of massaged Kale leaves, add red peppers, cucumbers and croutons. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

If, like me, you don’t have AC, enjoy with the windows open, the fan on full blast, and your favourite summer tunes.

-Katharine Watts, associate web editor