Fall and Winter Salad

This salad is great for a fall gathering for the holidays or just an elevated weeknight salad. 

Ingredients

Salad:

2 heads of kale (or a 5 ounce bag of baby kale, or chopped kale) (any type of kale works well here)

½ lb of brussel sprouts halved or quartered tossed with olive oil, sea salt, and smoked paprika

1 apple (I've been loving the cosmic apples)

1 cup of pomegranate seeds

1 cup of diced sweet potato

2 shallots thin sliced rounds

1 lemon 

Dressing:

1 shallot

¼ cup of dijon mustard

1 lemon juiced

¼ cup of olive oil

¼ cup of mayonnaise of choice (my favorite is veganaise)

1 tbsp of honey or maple syrup

Sprinkle of sea salt & black pepper

Cooking Instructions

1. Wash kale super well and dry well if using heads of kale. I like to soak the kale in water with vinegar, and lay out on paper towels while preparing everything else. 
2. Prepare a small ice bath of 1 lemon juiced, 1 cup of ice, and ½ cup of water. Thinly slice the apples and let them sit in the ice bath.
3. Roast the brussels sprouts and sweet potato in the oven at 450 for about 10-15 minutes.You can also saute the brussels on the stove. I like to do that at a super high heat, stirring often, I like to keep a crunch but char them.
4. Cut the leaves off the stems of the kale, you can use a knife or just simply tear them off. Add them to a salad bowl. While the brussels are roasting, thinly slice your shallots for the salad and set aside.
5.  Prepare your dressing. In a high powered blender, or nutri bullet type contraption add your dressing ingredients and blend until super creamy. Taste and add more of anything it needs. Some olive oils can leave a slightly bitter taste, a little more lemon juice, or sweetener can help balance it out. And if you like a sweetener dressing add another tablespoon of honey! 
6. Set brussel sprouts & sweet potatoes in the fridge to cool, and saute your shallots until crispy.
7. Drain the Apples and pat dry. Once your cooked veggies have cooled completely you can build your salad.
8. Start with a layer of kale, and then layer in a small amount of all your salad ingredients but save most of them for the top, layer with more kale and then carefully arrange your ingredients. I cooked the veggies, and then artfully arranged the apples, & pomegranate seeds on top.
9. If eating immediately you can dress right away, but if you're saving for later don’t dress until ready to eat! Undressed, this salad will last 1-3 days in the fridge.

Enjoy!