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Kale Salad with Apples, Bacon and Lemon-Shallot Dressing

Kale Salad with Apples, Bacon and Lemon-Shallot Dressing…a hearty salad packed with flavor! It’s wonderful as a side dish, but is also great for lunch or a light dinner.

Kale Salad with Apple, Bacon and Lemon-Shallot Dressing...a hearty salad packed with flavor!

REDUCING OUR ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT

This time of year I am really missing the farmer’s market. Normally, in the summer and fall, I get almost all of my produce either from our CSA or the farmer’s market. There is limited hours at the farmer’s market in the winter, but we are coming to the end of it. And I haven’t made it to very many of them, between my surgery and my kids’ indoor track meets.

Buying from local farms and other local businesses helps keep money in our local economy, which is important to me.

But the other big reason I prefer to buy local produce whenever I can is the impact on the environment. Local produce requires less packaging, allows for more sustainable growing practices, and is fresher and healthier because it requires less transportation. It’s literally farm to table.

Speaking of trying to reduce your environmental footprint, our family tries to do our part in other ways as well. We recycle, and we recently installed solar panels on our roof.

So when Ford’s Driving on Energi asked me if I wanted to participate in their program by test driving the Ford C-MAX ENERGI for a few months, my interest was piqued. I’ve never driven a hybrid before. I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn more about hybrid cars and how they can help the environment. Please know that while I do have the use of this car for several months, and I am being compensated (I always want to be upfront about that with you), my opinions will always be my own.

The timing on this turned out to be quite helpful too. After my surgery, I wasn’t able to drive for six weeks. But over Christmas break, someone hit my son’s car in our driveway while he was home from college…we think it had to have been a delivery truck because there was so much damage. We were home at the time, but had no idea it had happened. And they did not leave a note. Who does that?! We discovered the damage when he took me to my physical therapy appointment.

We had to wait weeks to get it into the body shop, and in the meantime, my son had to take my daughter’s car back to college. She started driving my car, because I couldn’t drive at the time. His car is still at the body shop, but I can now drive, so I’m very happy to have a vehicle again…especially this one!

Ford C-MAX ENERGI

The Ford C-MAX ENERGI is a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, powered by both an electric battery and a gas powered engine. The battery can actually be charged either at your home or a public electric outlet. If you do a lot of around town driving, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle can really save money as well as tailpipe emissions because you can drive using electricity stored in the battery instead of using gasoline. I drove home from the coffee shop completely on battery the other day.

There is also a screen that gives you a trip summary. The other day I checked it out and was thrilled to see that I had gotten 33.8 MPG on my around town driving! I’ll be sharing more as I go along since I’ll be driving this car for the next few months.

Now that you know what I’ve been up to, let’s talk kale salad!

KALE SALAD WITH APPLES, BACON, AND LEMON-SHALLOT DRESSING

Kale Salad with Apple, Bacon and Lemon-Shallot Dressing...a hearty salad packed with flavor!

This salad is another adaptation from a recipe that was made for me while I was recovering from my surgery.

SCROLL DOWN FOR PRINTABLE RECIPE

My daughter happens to be a kale salad fan, one of her favorites being my Lemony Kale Quinoa Salad.

But this is a different type of salad from the one I usually make, and it’s nice to try something new once in a while. I got a thumbs up from both my daughter and my husband, as well as a friend who I gave some for lunch. My friend messaged me that she loved it and couldn’t wait for it to be on the blog! Love when a recipe is successful!!

I set my kale salad aside for lunch and snacking because my daughter will often eat it when she comes home from track practice. It was gone in a day. I hardly got any. Next time I’m making a double batch.

This Kale Salad with Apples, Bacon and Lemon-Shallot dressing is quite easy to make, and delicious!

Kale Salad with Apple, Bacon and Lemon-Shallot Dressing...a hearty salad packed with flavor!

Start by cooking your bacon. Drain on paper towels and crumble when cool. Set the bacon crumbles aside.

Remove the ribs from the kale and rip the leaves into bite size pieces. Wash the leaves thoroughly using a salad spinner.

Wash and dry the apple, and cut it into slivers. If the slivers are too big for your liking, go ahead and cut them in half.

Grate your ricotta salata into coarse long slivers. Ricotta salada is a softer cheese and the pieces will break into smaller ones.

Combine all ingredients in a salad bowl.

To make the dressing, whisk together the chopped shallots, lemon juice, salt, pepper and olive oil. Toss the dressing with the salad.

For the best taste, let your salad sit for a little bit to allow the dressing to soak into the kale leaves.

Kale Salad with Apple, Bacon and Lemon-Shallot Dressing...a hearty salad packed with flavor!

OTHER SALAD RECIPES YOU MAY ENJOY

Kale Salad with Apples, Bacon and Lemon-Shallot Dressing

Kale Salad with Apples, Bacon and Lemon-Shallot Dressing

Yield: 4-6
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

Kale Salad with Apple, Bacon and Lemon-Shallot Dressing...a hearty salad packed with flavor! It's wonderful as a side dish, but is also great for lunch or a light dinner.

Ingredients

Kale Salad with Apples, Bacon, and Ricotta Salada

  • 1 bunch kale, ribs removed and leaves torn into bite size pieces
  • 8 slices of bacon, cooked, drained and crumbled
  • 1 apple, cut into slivers
  • 1/2 cup ricotta salata, grated using the long thin grates on your grater

Dressing

  • 2 tablespoons shallots, chopped finely
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 4 1/2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

  1. Cook bacon, drain on paper towels, crumble, then set aside.
  2. Remove ribs on kale, and rip leaves into bite size pieces.
  3. Wash thoroughly using a salad spinner.
  4. Wash and dry apple, cut into slivers. Cut the slivers in half if you'd like.
  5. Grate ricotta salata into coarse long slivers. This is a softer cheese and the pieces will break into smaller ones.
  6. Combine ingredients in bowl.

Dressing

  1. Whisk together chopped shallots, lemon juice, salt, pepper and olive oil.
  2. Toss dressing with salad.

Notes

For best taste, let salad sit for a little bit to allow dressing to soak into kale leaves.

Kale Salad with Apple, Bacon and Lemon-Shallot Dressing...a hearty salad packed with flavor!

 

Kale Salad with Apple, Bacon and Lemon-Shallot Dressing...a hearty salad packed with flavor!

Kale Salad with Apple, Bacon and Lemon-Shallot Dressing...a hearty salad packed with flavor!

Kale Salad with Apple, Bacon and Lemon-Shallot Dressing...a hearty salad packed with flavor!

Sharing is caring!

DearCreatives (@DearCreatives)

Wednesday 22nd of February 2017

Thanks for sharing at the Inspiration Spotlight Party @DearCreatives Pinned & shared.

L Campbell

Sunday 19th of February 2017

I am buying the ingredients for the salad today!! Also, I'm seriously looking for a hybrid car. I will definitely look at Ford products after hearing how much you are enjoying the car.

June Rostad

Saturday 18th of February 2017

Came over from Our Mini Linky Party ... When my family was out of town, someone served me a kale salad. I fell in love with it! Since then, I've been looking for a good recipe. I will give a try. :)

Karly @ Buns In My Oven

Friday 17th of February 2017

Looks delicious! Thanks for linking up with What's Cooking Wednesday!

Michelle Nahom

Friday 17th of February 2017

Thanks for having me, Karly!

Charlene Bullinger Asay

Thursday 16th of February 2017

MMM yum. What the perfect refreshing salad. Thanks for sharing!

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