Kale Salad is a Big Deal.

When my dear friend, Arden, was in town a few weeks ago, I had the privilege of enjoying a lovely dinner with her family. I have never been the biggest fan of kale (as mentioned here), but her parents had made a kale salad that I absolutely LOVED. To the point where, last night, I even asked her for the recipe to make it on my own.

Granted, my version was not nearly as delicious as the one her family had made (isn't that always how it works?) but Weston claimed to like it and we both agreed that it was fresh, light, and summery.

I used our salad-making as an excuse to play with my new lens! It's not actually new, I bought it a few years ago but after only using it for a few months, it broke. So it's been out of commission for over a year since fixing it was going to be mighty expensive and I was still trying to save money after having purchased the lens in the first place! But I finally sent it out to be repaired and it's back in my life and we are just very happy together.

So maybe there will be a lot of little nothings becoming big enough deals to take pictures of for a while. Like making a salad.

This dinner had been advertised to Weston as one that I would be making, but as usual, he ended up stepping in to help haha. He grilled the squash and zucchini while I made the dressing and washed the kale. We are both still going strong on the whole "allergen free" diet. It's getting easier and harder at the same time. Easier not to miss the things I was missing a lot at first, but harder to find meals that we haven't already made. So even if my salad wasn't as good as I wanted it to be (somehow.. how do you mess up a salad, really?) it was nice to have something different for dinner than our usual rotation.

We also grilled peaches and topped them with dairy-free ice cream.

This was a great decision.

As much as I'm ready for it to cool down, maybe it isn't too terrible that summer is still in full force.

At least for a little bit longer.

P.S. Here's a quick little video because my lens is fixed and if you hadn't already heard, we loved playing with it. A lot. 

recipe for the salad : 

brush eggplant, zuchinni, and squash with olive oil, salt, and pepper - then grill.

remove kale from stalks and tear or cut into bite sized pieces. 

add cooked quinoa.

combine all with dressing and let stand 10 minutes before serving.

recipe for the dressing :

using a shot glass measure 1 lemon juice, 1/2 white balsamic vinegar, 3 olive oil. 

add salt and pepper. pour into jar with lid and shake.