Chef notes
This recipe comes straight from my new book, “Joy Bauer’s Superfood!” I developed this salad as sort of a “day after” cleanse. It’s intended to help you reset and refresh after a long weekend of indulgence or a food-filled holiday stretch. It’s also a great jumpstart meal if you’re having trouble sticking to a healthy-eating plan.
Every ingredient has been thoughtfully added to contribute something unique and effective: fiber to help promote fullness and regularity, vitamins to enhance immunity and improve overall wellness, antioxidants to tame inflammation and boost brain power, and healthy fat to increase satiety and stabilize blood sugar levels. Simply put, it’s a bowl full of pure goodness. Then it’s topped off with a lemon chia vinaigrette that’s also designed to get you back on your A game. It has an all-star cast: vitamin-C-rich lemon juice, heart-healthy EVOO and omega-3-rich chia seeds. And the longer it sits, the richer and thicker it gets. (If it becomes more firm than you’d like after a few days, simply add a splash of water or a dash of extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice and give it a good stir.)
While this salad requires a bit of chopping, it also yields a lot of volume, which means you’ll have plenty of bowls to enjoy over the next couple of days. Short on time? The ingredients can easily be substituted for pre-chopped veggies, boxed or bagged salads or pre-shredded slaw.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 cups packed stemmed kale leaves, thinly sliced
- 2 medium carrots, grated
- 8 ounces Brussels sprouts, trimmed and thinly sliced (about 2 1⁄2 cups)
- 2 to 3 cups finely chopped broccoli florets
- 2 1/2 cups shredded red/ purple cabbage
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1 avocado, sliced
Preparation
For the dressing:
1.In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard and 2 tablespoons water until emulsified.
2.Add the chia seeds and whisk again.
3.Add the lemon juice, oil, salt and pepper, and whisk to combine. If the chia seeds clump together, allow the dressing to sit for 5 minutes or so and then stir. It will become smoother and thicker as it sits.
For the salad:
1.In a large bowl, combine the kale, carrots, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and cabbage.
2.Stash in a sealed container in the fridge and build each salad when you’re ready to eat.
To assemble individual salads:
1.Transfer 2 cups of the veggie mixture with 2 tablespoons dressing to a plate.
2.Top with 2 to 3 tablespoons blueberries, 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds, and avocado. Add extra dressing if you like.
For more tasty recipes, order Joy’s new cookbook "Joy Bauer's Superfood!"
