Kale, Haloumi and Quinoa salad

Kale, Haloumi and Quinoa salad

A little while ago a friend of mine posted an instagram photo of a stir fry she made with kale. It looked so delicious I just had to try it - and it sparked a new addiction to kale. Since then I've been obsessed with this super food. Besides being delicious, Kale is low in calories, high in fibre, high in vitamins A,C & K, filled with antioxidants, high in calcium (it has more calcium than milk!) and is cheap as chips! If that's not a super food I don't know what is.

Today I made another Kale dish for dinner - a Kale, Haloumi and Quinoa salad. All three are super foods in my opinion! I also added in some chicken for some extra protein.

Ingredients:

3 cups of Kale, finely chopped
1 cup of Quinoa (cooked and cooled)
2 chicken fillets, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ginger, finely diced
1 capsicum, diced
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 apple, sliced
1 large handful of green beans, topped and tailed
1 handful peacans, pine nuts or walnuts, toasted if desired

Lemon Vinaigrette

2 tablespoons virgin olive oil
1/4 cup freshly squeeze lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon maple syrup (or honey, or sugar)
A couple of basil leaves, finely chopped
Salt
Pepper

Instructions:

1. To make dressing, place olive oil, lemon juice, maple syrup, garlic, basil leaves, salt and pepper in a food processor. Blend for 10-15 seconds. Set aside.
2. Mix Kale, quinoa, tomatoes, capsicum, onion, apple and green beans in a large mixing bowl. 
3. Heat up kale for a few minutes until it warms up. Add to salad.
4. Fry chicken with garlic and ginger. Add to salad.
5. Fry haloumi and add to salad
6. Top with peacans  

Enjoy!

xx