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This Roasted Sweet Potato Kale Salad is packed with fiber, vitamin and minerals, protein and flavor! An easy champagne vinaigrette pulls it all together!
I love Earth Day. I kind of wanted to make chocolate pudding “dirt” with gummy worms as a celebration, but I don’t have any kids, so a salad seemed more age appropriate.
But before we get into the fabulous, healthiness that is this Roasted Sweet Potato Kale Salad let me tell you a little story about Earth Day.
When I was little I lived in Cleveland, Ohio for 5 years, and my elementary school made a BIG deal about Earth Day. One year they gave us each a teeny, tiny pine tree to plant at home; it was more like a twig with roots, really.
But I didn’t care. I babied that tree like only a 3rd grader could! My mom was not excited about the idea of me planting the sapling in a prominent place near the house, so I planted it near its “friends” along the back edge of the property line. I can picture EXACTLY where I planted it like it was yesterday: near the forest but set apart because it was special.
So in 2010 when my husband (then fiancé) and I first started working together in Cleveland, I begged him to come look at the tree with me. We drove to my old neighborhood, trespassed on some random person’s property (that’s love in case you couldn’t tell!), and we approached the spot where it should have been.
And you know what? My little pine tree was still there: set slightly away from the forest line. I couldn’t tell you why, but it made me so happy looking at it.
Then my husband’s deep voice woke me from my reverie; “We should go before someone comes out to ask us why we are behind their house…Telling them ‘I planted this tree 17 years ago’ is going to sound really odd!”
I still smile thinking about it.
And that is one reason why I love Earth Day [and my Husband].
I also love this roasted sweat potato kale salad! {Not my best segue but it’s all I got today.}
It’s packed full of fiber, vitamins and minerals and flavor! I sliced Tuscan Kale (a.k.a. lacenato kale or dinosaur kale) into thin ribbons and then topped it with toasted pecans, dried tart cherries, minced shallot, roasted sweet potatoes, my go-to easy grilled rosemary chicken breast, and a sprinkling of goat’s milk feta.
A champagne vinaigrette pulls it all together!
Each component is delicious, but all together it’s sensational!
This is one of those salads that you can serve any time of year. The sweet potatoes and chicken can be served hot or cold depending on the season.
The trick to making raw Tuscan kale palatable is all in the ribbons! Tuscan kale is very fibrous, so slicing this way means you don’t have to chew each bite for 10 minutes unless that’s your thing. The second time I made it (the photos you see), I got lazy and my ribbons weren’t as thin and it just wasn’t quite the same.
Roasted Sweet Potato Kale Salad
Ingredients
- 10 Tuscan kale leaves stems removed and cut into thin ribbons
- 2 breasts rosemary grilled chicken sliced
- 2 tablespoons toasted pecans
- 2 tablespoons dried tart cherries
- ½ shallot minced (approximately 1 tablespoon)
- ½ ounce goat cheese crumbled, more if you want
- 2 sweet potatoes pealed and diced into ½ inch cubes
- salt
- pepper
- dash Saigon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Champagne Vinaigrette
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Combine sweet potatoes, olive oil, ½ teaspoon freshly cracked pepper, 2 large, three finger pinches of kosher salt, and a dash of Saigon cinnamon. Toss to coat and evenly distribute spices. Add more oil if necessary. I usually eyeball it. Spread onto baking sheet and roast 15-20 minutes or until soft and slightly browned; turning several times throughout.
- While those bake, make your chicken. As the chicken rests assemble the salad.
- While the chicken cooks, massage half the dressing into the kale ribbons about 30 minutes before serving to soften it and begin melding the flavors.
- Pile all the ingredients atop the kale ribbons! Add additional dressing, salt and pepper as desired.
This salad will be my go to lunch for the rest of the season! The dressing paired with the sweet potatoes and kale is wonderful. I love that I feel satisfied and healthy while eating this salad.