The base is massaged kale. (Just remove washed kale from its center rib, cut into bite-sized pieces, and massage until softened. For more details, check out this video & post.) Then it’s topped with carrots, celery, red bell pepper, and cucumbers. It’s then tossed in creamy cashew dressing.

Raw Kale Salad in Creamy Garlic Dressing

Serves 2-4

1/3 cup raw cashews
¼ cup water (plus additional water for soaking cashews)
1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 Tbsp low-sodium tamari
1 heaping Tbsp fresh cilantro
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 bunch curly kale
Any favorite raw vegetables, chopped (for the kale salad)
Cover raw cashews in water and let them soak while you chop the kale and salad ingredients. (The longer the cashews soak, the creamier the dressing will be. Soaking for a few hours is ideal, but not a deal-breaker.) Pull the kale leaves from the center rib, and roughly chop the leaves. Move the chopped leaves to a bowl and massage them for a couple of minutes until the kale takes on the appearance of steamed kale.

To make the dressing: blend cashews, ¼ cup water, lemon juice, tamari, cilantro, and garlic in blender until creamy. (If you’re making the dressing ahead of time, store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to five days. The dressing will thicken over time.) Toss the kale with dressing until the leaves are evenly coated and then add whatever fruits and vegetables you like.

Alteration ideas: Raw garlic is much stronger than cooked garlic, and so feel free to reduce the recipe to one clove if you’d prefer. You can also adjust whatever herbs (or combination of herbs) you’d like. Just substitute your favorite herb for cilantro. Some ideas include dill, parsley, oregano, thyme, or basil. This dressing is also wonderful on spinach and romaine salads or as a garlicky dip for carrot and celery sticks, cauliflower, and broccoli florets.

The two things that make this salad so completely craveable are the additions of roasted chickpeas & easy lemon baked tofu that’s been roasted in squares. Outside of salads, the chickpeas are great with asparagus or broccoli on polenta or even by themselves as an alternative to popcorn for snacking. The tofu is fabulous in slices on sandwiches, in a tofu Benedict, or cubed in pasta salad, stir-fries, or wraps.

Ready to get inspired? Check out all of the luscious looking salads on Happy, Healthy Life. If you haven’t already voted, it would mean so much if you’d consider voting for David, #6! Thanks a bunch!

Easy Lemon Baked Tofu, roasted in squares

Easily enough for four salads

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp reduced-sodium tamari
1 10 oz. block Wildwood extra-firm tofu in an aseptic package or 1 14 oz. package of extra firm water-packed tofu, pressed
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Sliced the tofu into 4 slices width-wise. With all of the slices on top of each other, cut into it like a checkerboard or Rubik’s cube, making a bunch of rectangular squares.

Combine extra virgin olive oil and tamari in an 8×8 glass baking dish or pie plate. Toss the squares in the tamari mixture and bake for twenty minutes. Remove from oven and flip the tofu squares. Add lemon juice to the baking dish. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes. (Check at 15 minutes to see if all of the lemon juice has been absorbed and the tofu is fully brown. If so, it’s done. If not, put it back in for five more minutes.) Remove from oven and serve.

Roasted Chickpeas

Makes 1 cup

½ tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Toss chickpeas, nutritional yeast, and ½ tsp extra virgin olive oil on baking sheet. Put baking sheet in the oven and roast chickpeas for 20 minutes, stopping once to shake the pans so that they roast evenly.