I know, I know- this salad does sound amazing, doesn’t it?! The first time I made it was last year for Mother’s Day, per my mom’s request. She had gotten one at Mill 67 when they first opened and instantly fell in love with it, so my goal was to try and re-create it. The result? A pretty decent first shot at replicating her beloved salad. I just recently decided to make it for book club and I think I may have nailed the recipe, which is why I’m sharing it with you today!

The thing i love about this salad is it’s relatively easy to make since you don’t have to chop up a million veggies. Is it just me or are salads super annoying to make because of that?! I actually hate making salads for myself, but since this was such a different salad than the norm, it made the process fun! Imagine that 😉 I wouldn’t say it’s the healthiest salad based on the fact I added candied pecans and craisins, both of which are pretty sugary, BUT in small doses and for special occasions (such as a brunch!), it’s totally worth it. Some day maybe I’ll make my own candied nuts… I digress.

Ingredients

• 1 head of organic kale, rinsed and de-stemmed
• 1/2 of a pear, sliced thinly
• 1/4 cup candied pecans
• 1/4 cup craisins
• 1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
• 2-4 tbsp EVOO (but, let’s be honest, I never measure this because too much EVOO is not generally a bad thing!)
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300* and rinse/de-stem your kale. Place it in a baking dish and massage the kale leaves with the EVOO and lemon juice. Bake for about 5-10 minutes, or just until it starts to wilt.

2. While the kale is cooking, cut up your pear and grill it. If you don’t have a grill or a griddle, feel free to just sautee the pear on your stovetop with a little olive oil.

3. Once the kale and pears are done, assemble the salad: kale, topped with pear slices, candied pecans, craisins and goat cheese.

See? I told you it was easy… I almost feel bad for calling this a recipe 😉

This was such a fun thing to bring to book club because it wasn’t your standard, boring (IMO) regular lettuce leaf and veggie salad. It had lots of fun flavors and textures and just looked so pretty!

If you’re looking for a way to change up your boring salad, or something to bring to a breakfast or brunch, I definitely suggest trying this out!

Questions for you: Are you a salad person? What’s your favorite type of salad? Do you like making your own salads?