Mediterranean Diet-- Greek-Style Kale Salad

Greek--Style Kale Salad

Kale is the hot "queen of greens" to use these days. It is no wonder when you read about its many benefits from being packed full of calcium, vitamins and minerals to its mighty power against cancer and heart disease. It is definitely a food to build into our diets on a weekly basis.

A couple of challenges to this is its chewy nature as a rough and tough green. You also need to find recipes that accentuate its positives. To the first issue about its chewiness, the good news it that there are now many more varieties offered at the local grocery store because of its popularity. Even at Costco they are offering baby kale which is very palatable.  To the second issue, Mediterranean Diet recipes are a great resources for tasty salads that use kale.

One such recipe I selected I found on myrecipe.com. The Greek-Style Kale Salad I chose had all sorts of yummy ingredients in it. The recipe included Swiss chard, cucumber, olives and feta. The dressing was flavorful as well. It did call for 1/2 teaspoon refined sugar which I replaced with honey. One bountiful serving is a mere 79 calories. This is a salad that can be made and included in a variety of menus and with such a low calorie count it can round out a hearty entree without pushing you over your overall calorie goal for a meal.

My daughter wasn't wild about the chewiness of the greens but she did like the combination of all the ingredients in the salad. Next time I plan on using the baby kale I found at Costco. Overall it was a thumbs up for the salad and a definite repeat.