"Boulder" Kale

I am sitting at home in Ohio after what I can only describe as an amazing trip to Boulder, Colorado. Boulder is without a doubt, one of my new favorite places to be. It is a city that has tremendous respect for their food and farmers as well as the hungry wanders who visit.

The farmer's market is my first example:

Root Veggies

This beautiful display of root vegetables was at the Boulder County Farmers' Market on 13th street. Each vendor's stand looked like a work of art. Heirloom tomatoes were displayed in perfectly balanced mounds in every color of the rainbow from deep purple to amber. The leafy greens, kale, swiss chard, beet greens, and spinach were various shades of green and simply gorgeous. It was inspiring to see this level of respect for food. There were food vendors utilizing the bounty to make tasty creations, including a tasty green drink which consisted of 1/2 plum, 1/2 apple, small cucumber, handful of kale, almond milk and ice blended to perfection. There was no way I could wander around and not be inspired to eat better while sipping this clean healthy beverage.

This brings me to the first restaurant my traveling companion and I stumbled upon, The Oak, where I had the most amazing Kale Salad. When I arrived home I created a version for my kale averse family and it was a huge success with empty plates all around. My version of Kale Salad is chiffonaded Kale and thinly sliced organic apples (I used a mandolin) with a lemon squeezed over and room temperature parmesan cheese broken into pieces by hand. 

The Oak's Kale Salad

My version of The Oak's Kale Salad

I hope you will give this salad a try as I believe we should all try to get more kale into our diets and I am not the only one as this Top Ten List of health benefits shows. Even WebMD agrees (http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/the-truth-about-kale).

If you have a favorite recipe for kale I would love to hear about it!