Baby Kale-Rocket Salad with Fennel

I devoted an entire month to creating Paleo vegetarian recipes and this salad was one from the challenge. With a little planning, a soup & salad combo are definitely a quick Paleo lunch.

I can totally do salads and soups, but how boring would 28 days of that be? I like food with flare, stuff that’s not ordinary, edible art and I wanted to make new & fun Paleo vegetarian meals. Dishes we could incorporate into our regular menu, along with meat, when I’m done with this challenge.

I make salads quite often and soups every once in a while but the point of this challenge was to get creative with veggies and provide alternatives for Paleo vegetarians and so far there’s been lots of frustration in the kitchen.

This past weekend, before I started this whole veggie showdown, I did some recipe research looking for more variety beyond soup & salad. I gathered some ideas to build off of but so far there’s a few things that have been catching me up.

One:

I can’t believe how dependent Jeff & I are on meat and eggs. That’s not a bad thing but one of the reasons I wanted to do this challenge was to focus on incorporating more veggies into our diet. And when you get rid of everything else, it’s pretty hard not to have more of them. :p
Two:

Now I know why there’s so many vegetarian and vegan bloggers with so many dessert recipes. Sugar seems to be the replacement for meat & protein. That’s a big problem for me. I refuse to become a sugar-burner when I’ve worked so hard to become a fat-burner over the last year and I already know how sugar affects me. Unless I want to be all Hulk-Smash everyday I’ve got to really watch the sugar intake and that includes fruit.
Three:

I don’t have a typical go-to quick meal yet. I mean it’s only been ~~four days~~, well I guess three since I cheated on day 1…but still. When I came home from CrossFit the last couple days all I’ve wanted to have were eggs or tuna or leftover Korean short ribs or leftover turkey…and yeah, that’s not ok. Initially I said I would keep eggs & fish as extra protein in my diet but I didn’t want that to happen every day! Gosh.

On Wednesday I put together a hot Paleo vegetarian meal and I served this kale-arugula salad with Spicy-Garlic Cruciferous Soup.

Yield: 2-3 Servings

Ingredients

1 cup organic mixed baby greens
1 cup organic baby kale
1 cup organic baby rocket (i.e. arugula)
1/2 fennel, chopped (bulb, stalks & fronds included)
1 cup onion, chopped
1 Persian cucumber, sliced
1 bell pepper, chopped
2-3 sprigs fresh mint, torn
1 avocado, cubed
extra virgin olive oil, to taste
aged balsamic vinegar, to taste
coarse ground sea salt, to taste
coarse ground black pepper, to taste
dried oregano, to taste
dried dill weed, to taste

Directions

Rinse organic mixed baby greens, baby kale and baby rocket and add to a large mixing bowl.
Cut the end off the fennel bulb and trim any rough edges at the top of the stalks. Remove the feathery green fronds and set aside. Chop all of the fennel bulb along with the stalks and transfer half to the mixing bowl. Store the remaining half for another salad or meal. Finely chop the fronds and add to the top of the mixture.
Chop the onion, persian cucumber, orange pepper and fresh mint and add to the bowl.
Drizzle aged balsamic vinegar and olive oil over the mixture. Use more olive oil than vinegar.
Mix everything together and plate the salad for two with large servings or for three with medium-size (side-dish) size servings.
Slice the avocado and lay it on top of each plate. Season each plate with sea salt, ground black pepper, dried oregano and dried dill to taste. Adding the seasonings at the end makes it look pretty, you can mix it all together on your plate if you desire.
Garnish with fresh fruit. We had a bosc pear (my new favorite fruit), kiwi and ginormous red globe grapes. Serve immediately.
Enjoy! :)

Baby Kale-Rocket Salad with Fennel

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