apple & walnut kale salad

it's friday and week #1 of vegan mofo is through!  phew!  so much reading, cooking, drooling at the computer screen... it seems that lots of you really enjoyed my french toast cupcakes that i posted yesterday, and i don't blame you, they're pretty darn scrumptious!  i'm excited already to share next weeks cupcake post.... but you're going to have to wait until then!

for now, how about an easy kale salad with bright fall flavours?

{apple & walnut kale salad}

apple & walnut kale salad
1/2 bunch kale
1 apple
1/4 cup raw walnuts
1 green onion
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp pure maple syrup
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil {optional}

wash the kale and remove the tender greens from the stalk.  tear the greens into bite-sized pieces and place them in your salad bowl along with 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar and a few pinches of salt and massage the kale with your hands for a minute or two.

wash and core the apple and dice it.  dice the green onion too.  add the apple, onion and walnuts to the kale.  whisk together the remaining vinegar with the maple syrup and oil if using and drizzle over the salad.  toss, season to taste with more salt if needed and serve.

i loved the crunch of sweet apple combined with rich walnuts and tender kale.  and getting a little sharp pop from a green onion here and there was great too!  i didn't find that i needed the oil in the dressing for this salad but it would be nice with it too i'm sure.  also, you might like to adjust the sweetness either up or down to your liking.

must be on my way ~ mega meal planning ahead for canadian thanksgiving this weekend!  i'm really excited to be cooking for a group of 10 lovely people.  i put the offer out there to do all of the cooking to ensure that m & i could enjoy a thanksgiving meal that means something to us and that is cruelty-free.  we're the only two vegans who will be in attendance so i'm excited to feed some new flavours to hungry mouths!

will so many amazing recipes out there, i decided to pull some recipes from the incredible vegan blogger community.  here's a sampling of a few of the recipes i hope to include in our sunday meal:

• for pre-dinner snacking, this super seey hummus from cook, bake, nibble
• to stuff in my csa-fresh delicata squash, this wild rice, pear & cranberry stuffing from veg kitchen 
• to make sure we get our kale fix, these creamy greens from not your parent's granola
• and of course not forgetting dessert, i'm planning on individual layered pumpkin cheesecakes with this recipe from fat free vegan.

now there's a list of things to be thankful for.

happy weekend and to my canadian pals, happy thanksgiving!

xo
jess