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If there’s one thing I love more than sweet potatoes and kale, its roasted sweet potato in my kale salad. You could say that I’m a girl of very simple needs. That’s why this Roasted Spiced Sweet Potato & Kale Salad makes me very happy.

I think we’ve discussed this before; I like my salads to be substantial. Yes, I eat a lot of rabbit food, but I prefer my rabbit food be filling, flavorful, and delicious. Don’t you? It’s like the dreaded chain-restaurant side salad order that comes with 2 slices of cucumber, 3 cherry tomatoes, and perhaps a few carrots dashed on top of some wilting iceberg lettuce. Uh, what? No, this salad is not that. This salad has substance!

The substance,_ if you were wondering_, is made up of delicious spicy roasted sweet potatoes dusted with cinnamon, cayenne, and cumin, savory pumpkin seeds, and bright and crunchy pomegranate seeds for a perfect bite. The kale takes amazing thanks to a delectable lemon and tahini dressing that may become your new favorite thing. The trick of the trade here is to massage your kale with the dressing to get rid of the bitter taste and break down the structure of the plant’s cell wall. When this happens, the kale begins to wilt and all of the delicious flavors in the dressing can be readily absorbed. This does not happen when you regularly toss a kale salad with dressing, so make sure to get your hands in there for the massaging!

Besides being a salad of substance, it also offers you plenty of vitamins, minerals, protein, fiber, iron, calcium, and antioxidants from the goodies within. Try out this kale salad for yourself, and never ever give into boring old house salads again.

Roasted Spiced Sweet Potato & Kale Salad

Serves 2

Lemon Tahini Dressing:

1 T olive oil

2 T tahini

1/4 tsp cumin

Juice of 1 lemon

Freshly ground sea salt and pepper

Sweet Potatoes:

1-2 medium sweet potatoes, or a bunch of little ones, cubed

1 T coconut oil, melted

¼ tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp cayenne

Freshly ground sea salt and pepper

Kale Salad:

One head of lacinato kale, thick stems removed and chopped

¼ cup pumpkin seeds

¼ cup pomegranate seeds

Preheat oven to 400° F and begin with prepping your sweet potatoes. Once sweet potatoes are cut into even cubes, drizzle with coconut oil and add spices and freshly ground sea salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Add potatoes to a baking sheet and roast in oven for 25-30 minutes, or until potatoes are nice and soft once pierced with a fork. Your kitchen will also begin to smell amazing, which is a good indication that they’re done. Remove sweet potatoes from oven and let cool to room temperature.

Next massage the kale. In a large bowl add chopped kale and drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice, tahini, cumin, and freshly ground sea salt and pepper. Using your hands, massage kale for 2-3 minutes until the leaves begin to feel smooth and silky. Once kale is massaged add in pumpkin seeds, pomegranate seeds, and roasted sweet potato cubes. Enjoy!

P.S. This can be made ahead of time and placed in the refrigerator. The flavors of the kale will only become better. You can also add some cubed avocado or nuts to bulk up your kale goodness some more.