A Perfect Winter Salad with Almond Butter Dressing
Featuring my fave winter-y salad combo of half roasted + half fresh greens!
Colorful chefs - new and old, welcome! This is where we cook easy, delicious, saucy, colorful meals made from whole, unprocessed foods, and we make it fun, easy, and learn important stuff about metabolic health while doing it.
On today’s menu is a winter salad with kale, delicata squash, chickpeas, apples, your protein of choice, and an almond butter dressing. As always, since it’s the first issue of the month, the recipe is available to Color Club members AND all newsletter subscribers! Enjoy ☺️
Quick heads up: If you ordered a Cooking in Color denim hat, corduroy hat or tote bag, they’ve been shipped out and should arrive soon. If you still want one, I have a few left so just respond to this email and let me know!
Coming up laster this month: I am cooking up some fun holiday recipes for Color Clubbers! I did a poll on IG and got a number of responses for something fancy but easy but also you wanted a causal holiday slider / grazing table guide…so I’ll guess this means I’ll do both? 🤷🏼♀️ If there are any other holiday recipes or treats you’d like a metabolically healthy, cooking in color remake of, please let me know!
I know salads don’t usually top the list of winter cravings, but trust me—this one is different. It’s cozy, colorful, and addicting. I finished recipe testing this salad on Saturday, and have made this every day for the last 5 days because it’s THAT GOOD.
Here’s my winter salad tip: roast your sturdy greens like kale or chard until they’re crispy and caramelized, then pair with some fresh, crisp greens like kale or arugula for a balance of fresh and roasted!
The combo of the roasted delicata squash, roasted and massaged kale, chickpeas, chicken, apple, pomegranate seeds and pumpkin seeds is perfection in my mind and it’s also packed with protein and fiber to balance the natural sweetness in the delicata squash. The key for enjoying something like squash while having stable blood sugar, is to ensure the meal is balanced with enough protein and fiber to slow the absorption of the carbohydrates. Here’s a little recap:
Protein —> Slows digestion: Protein takes longer to digest than carbs, which helps slow the release of glucose into the bloodstream. When you then pair protein with carbs, the protein reduces the rate at which carbs are broken down into glucose. This prevents those rapid spikes and crashes in blood sugar levels that leave you hungry a few hours later or irritable.
Fiber —> Delays glucose absorption: Soluble fiber, found in foods like beans (in this recipe, the chickpeas) or fruits (in this recipe, the apple) forms a gel-like substance in your digestive track which slows down the absorption of the glucose into your bloodstream.
Moral of the story - it’s best to not eat your carb-y foods naked! Dress them up with protein and fiber. This is one of the reasons why I advocate for getting as much color as possible, because for example if you think about adding color to something like toast, you might then add avocado (healthy fats and fiber), eggs (protein), or veggies like cucumber, tomatoes (I know, tomatoes are fruits!) or greens. In this example, all of those additions would slow the release of glucose into the bloodstream from the toast.
Okay moving on to discuss the almond butter dressing in this recipe…I suggest making a double batch because otherwise you’ll be remaking it every single day. It’s so creamy, nutty, easy and would also be great on roasted veggies or even as a little dip.
I used the organic almond butter from Costco in this recipe, but I love the Whole Foods Dry Roasted Almond Butter, as well as the Artisana Raw Almond Butter. Just check your nut butters have one ingredient: nuts! Seed oils and added sugars are sneaky culprits in nut butters, so read the label before buying. I also try to buy nut butters with raw or dry roasted nuts, because oftentimes when the nuts are roasted they were roasted in very low quality oils. If it says dry roasted or raw, you are good to go!
For those of you who want more step by step instructions ^^
Makes 2-3 servings (pending how hungry you are)
Takes about 25 minutes (10 minutes to prep, 15 minutes to cook)
What You’ll Need
Chef’s knife (I love my Made In knife!)
Large salad bowl (My Made In bowl is currently 20% off)
2 baking sheets (stainless steel or Caraway non-toxic)
Small bowl or measuring cup (to mix dressing)
Ingredients
Salad:
1 big bunch lacinato or dino kale
1 delicata squash, seeds removed and cut into half moons
1 15oz can chickpeas (or about 1 - 1.5 cups cooked chickpeas)
1 apple, cut into matchsticks
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
2-3 cups cooked rotisserie chicken (or your protein of choice - salmon, tofu, etc.)
Optional but encouraged salad toppings:
Graded parmesan or sharp cheddar
Pickled red onions
Dressing:
1/4 cup almond butter (unsweetened, seed oil free)
1 tsp dijon mustard
juice of 1/2 lemon (or 1.5/2 tbsp), use the other half of the lemon juice for massaging the kale
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup water (more as needed to thin)
Instructions
COOK HALF OF THE KALE AND THE SQUASH
1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Cut the squash in half lengthwise, remove seeds, then slice each half into 1/2 to 1-inch thick half-moon pieces. Toss with 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, 2 tbsp olive oil and a pinch of kosher salt.
3. Separate your kale into two bunches. With one bunch, cut out the stems and then place on a separate roasting pan. You don’t want to overcrowd your kale otherwise it will steam instead of roast. Add a little olive oil and salt on the kale before roasting.
4. Put in the oven for 10 minutes. At 10 minutes, take out the kale and toss the squash or flip them to the other side, and roast for another 5 minutes or until soft.
PREPARE SALAD
5. With the rest of your kale, remove the stems and roll up the pieces so you can easily chop them into long strands (like a fettuccine!). This is my preferred way, but you can chop the kale however you like! Squeeze the juice from 1/2 a lemon on the kale and massage, set aside.
6. Prepare the rest of the ingredients: strain and wash the chickpeas if needed, chop the apple, prepare your pomegranate seeds etc.
7. Crumble the crispy baked kale with your hands or roughly chop it. Then, combine everything into one bowl.
PREPARE DRESSING AND SERVE
8. Combine all dressing ingredients into a pyrex measuring cup or a small bowl and whisk together well. If needed, add more water until you get to your desired consistency.
9. Top with pickled red onions and shredded parmesan cheese (optional) and some flakey sea salt!
Swaps and Tips
To double recipe: Use two bunches of dino kale, 2 delicata squashes, double the chicken, and then double the dressing. You don’t necessarily need to double the beans, seeds or apple but of course you can.
Just double the dressing: Hot tip, even if you are not doubling the recipe, double the dressing so then you have some in the fridge to easily whip up another salad later in the week, or to use the dressing as a dip for veggies or crackers!
Protein swaps: I’ve tried this with salmon as well and it was delicious, but you could also do tofu, ground pork, chicken of any kind etc.
Want to use the squash seeds? Roast those with a little kosher salt and olive oil for 10 minutes in the oven and then throw them on top of the salad!
Nutritional Info
I’ve been feeling super meh on including the nutritional info in my recipes lately because personally I don’t count calories or macros in a very detailed way. #countcolorsnotcalories
As I wrote about in this previous piece on food freedom - I believe in thinking about how many nutrients can I get in this meal and how much protein, fiber and color can I get into this meal vs. the number of calories or the precise macros.
Right now, since I eat a relatively low carb and color-forward diet, the only thing I really focus on is ensuring I’m getting about 30-40g of protein per meal for optimal blood sugar balance, satiety, muscle repair/growth and to support my hormones (like insulin, and more!).
By focusing on color (and also protein!) I’ve found that the more color I have on my plate, the more likely it will be blood sugar balanced with fat, fiber, protein and micronutrients, aka all of the things my cells need.
Now I recognize that it’s taken me some time to get here, and it took me wearing a CGM for 2+ years to build up the intuition of what makes my body feel the best, and how to maintain stable blood sugar levels. If using nutrition information now is helping you build up your own intuition on things like net carbs and protein, then that is great! However my goal for everyone is to use the numbers and the science for only as long as you need to build up your own intuition of what works best in your body.
I’m curious - do you look at nutrition information? How do you use it when making decisions? Do you want me to keep it? Let me know!
Without further ado, nutrition facts are per serving:
Calories: 660
Carbohydrates: 50g
Fiber: 17g
Net carbs: 33g
Protein: 40g
Fat: 29g
Sodium: 1200mg
Sugar: 15g (don’t freak out, these are natural sugars from the apple and squash and still packed with fiber as they are from the whole fruits/veggie!)
If you make this recipe (or ANY of my recipes!), I’d LOVE to hear how it turned out and any feedback you have! Give me your notes - big and small, and if you are on IG, tag me @sonjakmanning.
Chefs kisses,
Sonja
Cant wait to cook this! The dressing sounds amazing too!
I love the idea of not counting calories . I also like to know how much fiber , protein and sugar I am consuming . My personal journey of focusing on health versus calories , adding more healthy fats , fiber and protein has changed my body without trying ..... plus exercise of some type every day. I love your philosophy !!!