Kale Caesar Salad Recipe with Chickpeas

Get out of your greens rut with a kale twist on the traditional Caesar salad ~ by Deanna Segrave-Daly, RD

Disclosure: As part of the Cabot Fit Team, Cabot Creamery is covering my travel expenses during the 2014 Key Bank Vermont City Marathon & Relay. I was not compensated to write this post. My thoughts and opinions are my own – and I happen to be a long time lover of Cabot cheese!

I found out some pretty exciting news last week.

I’m going to be part of the 2014 Cabot Fit Team.

Now, I’ve worked with Cabot Creamery for several years on projects ranging from creating nutritious recipes to delivering healthy eating presentations. I respect the company (a cooperative of 1,200 dairy farm family in New England and upstate New York) and truly love their cheeses from their Sharp Light cheddars (yes–> light cheese that actually tastes amazing and melts) to their innovative products (umm, currently I’m coveting this Hand Rubbed Everything Bagel Cheddar.)

Here are my fellow Cabot Fit Team members – we’ll all be running in the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon & Relay in May:

Carissa @ Fit 2 Flex
Carolyn @ All Day I Dream About Food  
Joanne @  Eats Well With Others 
Katie @ Healthy Seasonal Recipes
Kelly @ Kelly the Culinarian
Kristina @ Love and Zest
Marlow @ Gluten Hates Me 
Mary – Former Senior Nutrition Editor and now Contributor for Cooking Light

Now, Serena and I have never positioned this blog to be about fitness but I figured you might want to hear from time to time about how we try to practice what we preach: Make healthy food that’s always delicious, splurge at times, and add exercise to our days where we can.

I’m not going to get into posting my run times or my weekly mileage but rather, I’d like to share how I use food to fuel exercise and share my latest favorite food/meals/snacks that give me energy. Like this —> my current go-to, post-exercise drink after a run or boot camp class.

Speaking of healthy food fuel…

I don’t know about you, but I’ve gotten into salad ruts lately, and I’ve been in an overall greens rut (which did provide inspiration for this soup.) Sometimes I go more than a few days without eating something green.

And don’t ask me to drink a green smoothie – I just can’t do it.

So, being on the Cabot Fit team has inspired me to get back on the balanced eating track and eat my greens.

In the Jan/Feb issue of Cooking Light, there was a page of 6 Super Kale Salads that I immediately ripped out. The Mango & Coconut Kale Salad was a fave for awhile and more recently I gave this Kale Caesar Salad a whirl.

My tips/additions to Cooking Light’s recipe:

• Add cooked beans for extra fiber and protein (I used canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained)
• Instead of Parmesan, grate Cabot Extra Light Cheddar. Both Cabot Light and Extra Light have lower moisture content so they grate like an aged Parmesan but for less calories.
• Use flavored olive oil (I loved the dressing with my Trader Joe’s Lemon Olive Oil.)
• Try it roasted (After day 3 of the leftovers, I  actually liked it even better than the raw version. Just throw all the leftovers onto a tray, into a 400 degree oven and stir a few times. Takes about 5-10 minutes.)

So, do you get in green/salad ruts? Are you over kale or is it a staple in your eating routine? Share recipes and ideas – love to hear from  you!