Cucumber•Kale•Quinoa Salad

Irma | mycreativekneads
by Irma | mycreativekneads
4 Servings
20 min

You’re going to want to try this recipe if you love cucumbers. This is a perfect summer salad to eat at home or while sitting on the beach somewhere and its very refreshing too. It’s intuitive cooking at its best 🤌🏼 I’ve been eating this on repeat because it’s so delicious. It’s full of simple clean ingredients and it’s easy to make. It requires very little prepping and it’s as simple as combining a few ingredients, adding your favorite salad dressing or try making my Green Goddess dressing that I’ve posted here on FoodTalk and voila you have a perfect meal. I really think a Green Goddess dressing is the best for this salad because of all the fresh herbs that are typically in a Green Goddess dressing.


The only elbow grease you will have to endure is to chop and massage the kale for approximately 5 minutes. This is necessary to tenderize the kale and make it more gut friendly otherwise, kale can be very tough. I remove any large and tough stems. Massaging it also helps get rid of some of the bitterness kale is known to have.


HOW TO MASSAGE THE KALE:


De-stem and coarsely chop both purple and the Tuscan kale, place in a separate bowl, add 2 tbsp avocado oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and massage for approximately 5 minutes until it’s tender then add it to the cucumber.


FYI, Tuscan kale is also known as lacinato or dinosaur kale. It’s darker and has longer leaves than the typical green one and I prefer it’s texture and taste more.


This recipe is strictly for the cucumber salad, NOT the chicken that I added. You can use your favorite protein or none at all. I made a zaatar crusted air fried chicken, it was delicious. This salad is also great with shrimp. You can omit the animal protein and add garbanzos if you don’t eat meat. If you’re vegan, use coconut yogurt instead of Greek yogurt for the green goddess dressing (if you decide to use my recipe). The options are endless but delicious every time 🤌🏼 modify ingredients to your liking. I hope you enjoy it 💚


HOW I SPIRALIZED VEGGIES:


I use a kitchen gadget by Paderno that spiralizes veggies and makes it much easier then attempting to do it by hand. It’s very inexpensive & I bought it on Amazon.



Thank you for stopping by.

If you’d like to see more of what I cook and love to do, please visit me at https://www.instagram.com/mycreativekneads/

Alright, let’s get cooking!

Cucumber•Kale•Quinoa Salad
Recipe details
  • 4  Servings
  • Prep time: 20 Minutes Cook time: 0 Minutes Total time: 20 min
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Ingredients
For the salad
  • 1 large spiraled English cucumber
  • 1 bunch purple kale, leaves only no stems (chopped, seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder & massaged for 5 minutes with 2 tbsp avocado oil)
  • 1 bunch Tuscany kale, leaves only no stems (chopped, seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder & massaged for 5 minutes with light avocado oil)
  • 1/2 bunch finely chopped fresh mint
  • 1/2 bunch finely chopped parsley (opt)
  • 1 chopped avocado
  • 1 cup cooked quinoa (I use a tri colored)
  • 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds 
  • protein of choice (opt)
  • green goddess dressing (of choice or your favorite salad dressing, opt).
Instructions
For the salad
Wash, scrub and spiralize the cucumber, place in a salad bowl and set aside.
De-stem and coarsely chop both purple and the Tuscan kale, place in a separate bowl, add 2 tbsp avocado oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and massage for approximately 5 minutes until it’s tender then add it to the cucumber.
Cook quinoa according to package instructions.
Add the finely chopped mint, parsley, quinoa, avocado and your protein of choice.
Add Green Goddess dressing, toss to combine all ingredients and enjoy 🌿💚
Comments
  • Loretta Loretta on Jun 20, 2022

    How do you spiralize?

    • See 2 previous
    • Irma | mycreativekneads Irma | mycreativekneads on Jun 21, 2022

      Hi Loretta, I’m sorry, I probably should’ve explained the process better. I use a kitchen gadget by Paderno that spiralizes veggies and makes it much easier then attempting to do it by hand.


      I used to thinly cut them lengthwise into julienne strips which also gave them a nice texture. I hope this helps, thank you for stopping by 💚

  • Eli Eli on Jun 20, 2022

    gOOd daY!!! beaUtifuL reCipE!! qUestiOn is… dO i cOOk the kaLe 🥬 fiRst? saUté kaLe 1sT? thEn add aLL ingredients?

    • Irma | mycreativekneads Irma | mycreativekneads on Jun 21, 2022

      Hello Eli, great day 💚 all the veggies are raw but massaging the kale helps tenderize it and also makes it easier to digest 🙂 Thank you for stopping by.

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