A light vegan and gluten free kale and quinoa alfalfa salad with avocado. A one pot meal ready in under 30 minutes for a meatless meal.
I’ve recently been trying to incorporate more kale into my diet. I’ve just been doing a lot of reading on all the various health benefits and even the nutrition information on the bag itself will have you amazed at all the vitamins packed into these dark leafy greens.
Less than 100 grams of kale actually packs in 190% of your daily recommended dosage of vitamin C and 290% of your daily recommended dosage of vitamin A.
I mean how insane is that? In basically two handfuls of kale you’ve brought your body up to a super human quantity of both vitamins A and C. Oh and the same time you’re also getting 15% of your daily calcium and 8% of your daily iron intake.
The goodness keeps on going.
So yes, all those little fun facts have me trying to add more kale into my cooking. Luckily it’s not too hard to thrown kale in here and there. I’ve mastered a few good kale recipes from adding it to salads, to kale soups, veggie juices, chips, dips, you name it.
It’s not my favorite leafy green out there, I probably prefer arugula, or crisp boston lettuce, but who can argue with such a stellar nutrition label?
I must say I love a kale juice, but whenever I’m juicing I always notice that so much of the vegetable itself gets tossed aside, pulverized into mush and toss away. Somehow, I cannot believe I’m getting all those vitamins and minerals with so much of the stems and leaves tossed out. And have you seen how little juice comes out of kale leaves?
This past weekend, I felt I needed a kale energy vitamin boost and decided to add it to a vegan quinoa alfalfa salad dish I had in the works.
This alfalfa salad is easy to make with just a handful of fresh flavorful ingredients. Basically a bowl full of superfood packed goodness. You can almost see the vitamins and minerals jumping off the fork and into your mouth.
Here we’ve got quinoa, kale, alfalfa sprouts, crunchy sprouts, avocados, cucumbers and a little lemony mustard based olive oil dressing. Alfalfa sprouts are also one of my most favorite ingredients. I am seriously obsessed. I normally have alfalfa sprouts with my breakfast – they pair wonderfully with fried eggs and avocado but this time they’re the star ingredient in this alfalfa salad. They’re just so light with a subtle crunch and a distinct taste. I love them.
This quinoa alfalfa salad is made from scratch in under 30 minutes and tossed together in one bowl. Both vegan and gluten-free, this light quinoa alfalfa salad is perfect for a weeknight meatless meal.
Light and flavorful yet full of much needed vitamins and nutrients.
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
A light vegan and gluten free kale and alfalfa salad with quinoa and avocado. A one pot meal ready in under 30 minutes for a meatless meal.
- 3 cups cooked quinoa about 1- 1 and 1/2 cups uncooked quinoa
- 1/4 cup crunchy sprouts
- 3 ounces alfalfa sprouts
- 1 avocado cubed
- 2 english cucumber cut into matchsticks
- 1 cup packed kale stems removed and finely sliced
- 1 tablespoon whole grain dijon mustard
- 1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lemon zested and juiced
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In a small bowl combine lemon zest, juice, mustard and olive oil.
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In a large bowl combine remaining ingredients and top with dressing. Serve warm or cold.
Rachel says
Can’t wait to make this!
Expecting Unknown says
Nice but dijon mustard is not vegan unless we can ensure the chardonnay it is made with does not use any fining agents such casein, gelatin, isinglass etc…
Vicky says
Thanks for bringing this to my attention — I’ll update the recipe ingredients.