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Thursday, October 30, 2014

Sweet Kale Salad w/ Chicken and Cranberry Vinaigrette

This evening I had to run some errands after work. To keep dinner quick, simple and delicious...I picked up a rotisserie chicken and a bag of "Sweet Kale 7 Superfoods Salad Mix." It's actually a salad kit that comes with poppy seed dressing and dried sweetened cranberries and toasted pumpkin seeds to sprinkle on top (bagged separately from the salad mix). The salad mix is a blend of Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Kale and Chicory. I believe it's the same kit I see at Costco in a larger bag, but this was a smaller 12-ounce bag that was perfect for 2 servings. Since the dressing is made with sugar and soybean oil, I wanted to use my own dressing instead. I let hubby use the sweetened cranberries and roasted pumpkin seeds that came with the kit on his salad and I put some raw pumpkin seeds I had on hand on top of mine. 

 To add cranberry flavor to my salad without the added sugar of the sweetened cranberries that came with the mix, I decided to make a quick and easy vinaigrette with my fresh cranberry sauce. It turned out really good. I added olive oil, onion powder, sea salt, a dash of chipotle powder and some apple cider vinegar for bite to balance the sweet-tart flavor of the cranberry sauce. I tweaked and adjusted the seasoning a little after combining the ingredients. I poured the dressing in a little glass vinaigrette shaker bottle that I bought with a Good Seasons salad dressing mix. I tossed the dressing packet and kept the bottle to make my own dressing in. I like this bottle because it has lines and marks for oil, vinegar, etc. to make different dressings as well as a tight fitting lid so you can shake it up. The cranberry vinaigrette was delicious on this salad mixture, along with the chicken. I snapped a couple photos of our easy peasy dinner and included the recipe for my easy Cranberry Vinaigrette. Enjoy!






Cranberry Vinaigrette

 Ingredients:

 1/4 cup fresh Cranberry Orange Sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
3 to 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, or to taste
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
Dash of ground chipotle chile powder

 Directions:

 Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl until blended and emulsified. Taste for seasoning and adjust, to taste. Refrigerate any leftover dressing.

  

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4 comments:

  1. CyberSis10/31/14, 1:08 AM

    Hi GGC,

    Yes, Yes ... that's it ... the "Eat Smart Sweet Kale" salad! We really love it. We get it every time we go to Costco now (the only place I've seen it around here.) In fact, we picked up TWO *large* bags today. :-)

    The Cranberry Vinaigrette looks wonderful. I need to make some more cranberry sauce so I can make the salad dressing!

    P.S. I have your new "crispy" cookies cooling. I think I'd better go test one! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gourmet Girl Cooks10/31/14, 7:07 PM

    Hi CyberSis,

    We really liked the combo...even hubby! I will pick up the big bag at Costco, too. I must say, the roasted seeds and cranberries they supply were tasty (I tried them before putting them on hubby's salad). I still have cranberry sauce from the big batch I made last week. So, I've enjoyed having it handy to test in various things throughout the week. Every once in a while, I open the fridge and take out a spoonful..."just because"...LOL!

    Curious what you think about crispy cookies vs the regular version. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. CyberSis11/1/14, 2:45 AM

    Hi GGC,

    We *love* the crispy cookie recipe ... however, they didn't turn out crispy for me. I think it was because I didn't flatten them enough. I got in a hurry and left mine about 1/2" even though you *specified* 1/4". My bad ... next time I'll listen. Even so, they are really wonderful cookies. I will definitely make them again ... and NOT be disappointed if they don't turn out crispy! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gourmet Girl Cooks11/1/14, 8:51 PM

    Hi CyberSis,

    LOL...yup, 1/2-inch would probably not be crispy...but 1/4-inch should take care of that. I know, it's kind of hard to be disappointed with a chocolate chip cookie, isn't it! ;-)

    P.S. -- I bought the BIG bag of Sweet Kale salad mix at Costco today...and 2 more bags of fresh cranberries (one for the freezer and one for the fridge). ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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