Last Sunday, I had a cooking demo at Cesar Chavez Celebration at Dover Park in Oakland.  This event was organized by Phat Beets Produce, and sponsored by the Healthy Hearts Clinic at the Children’s Hospital Oakland.

It was really fun with over 300 excited people, even our Mayor, Jean Kwon showed up.  The Aztec Dancers were really cool!  Check out the photos from the event here.

The two recipes I demonstrated with a help from my volunteers, Kale and Strawberry Salad, and Strawberry and Radish Salad are both really easy, healthy and delicious.   As with many of my recipes, both or them use two same ingredients, strawberries and honey dressing.  If you slice the strawberries all at once, and make extra vinaigrette, you can cut significant amount of time, for completely different dishes. It’s a Kitchen Wizard Magic!

Even the small children who were at the Dover Park loved these salads.  Many loved them so much, they came back to ask for the seconds!

If you are a strict vegan, use plant based sweetener instead of honey.

Kale and Strawberry Salad
(This video was made for Newman’s Own Dressing, so simply replace with honey dressing.)

• 1 bunch kale – stems removed, chopped or torn small
• About 1/4 pack strawberries – sliced
• About 1-2 tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 lemon juice
• Salt
• Honey Dressing (instruction follows)
• 2 tablespoons chopped nuts (Optional)

1. Pour extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and dash of salt onto the chopped or torn kale and massage with hands really well for about 1 minute until the kale is soft and its volume is reduced by half.  Leave alone for about 5 to 10 minutes, and slice strawberries during that time.
2. Add strawberries, honey dressing to coat the leaves, nuts (if using) to the kale, mix gently.  Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.  Serves about 4 or more, depending on the size of the kale bunch and your appetite.

As you can see in the video sliced strawberry against kale is so pretty! It’s like Christmas!  It may be hard to see on the video, but if you cut the stem with a paring knife in to a V shape, and slice thin, they look like hearts!  When you don’t have strawberries, most other fruit will do, such as sliced persimmons or mangos.  Yum!

This is a great salad to make with kids!  They love helping you tear up all the kales, and massage it.  There’s something very magical and fun about using hands when cooking.  It lightens us up and makes us happy.  When the children are involved with cooking process, they are more likely to eat it.

Kale is one of the most nutritious vegetable, highly anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, plus anti-cancerous. According to Whole Foods Market’s ANDI (Aggregate Nutrient Density Index) system, it’s on top at 1000, but bitter and tough. With this salad,  the sweetness of the dressing lightens up the bitterness of kale, it will convert the green haters to kale lovers!

This salad will make a major contribution toward  5 servings of fruit and veggie goal, so you will live happily ever after… when you make this salad regularly.  This is great on the second day, so make extra!

Honey Dressing

• 1 part extra virgin olive oil
• 1 part wine vinegar
• 1 part honey
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Add everything into a small jar with a lid and shake well until honey dissolves.  My favorite container for this is a baby food jar — ask your friend who has a baby or a toddler - they will be happy to give you some).  Taste and adjust seasoning.  The best way to do it is try it on something you’ll be tasting with, in this case, kale. If you use 2 tablespoons each of oil, vinegar and honey, that should be enough for both recipes.

Strawberries & Radishes Salad
(Again, this video was made for Paul Newman’s, so just replace the honey dressing with his.)

• 3/4 to 1 pack strawberries (sliced thinly)
• 1 bunch radishes – about 10 (sliced thinly)
• Salt
• Honey Dressing (recipe above)

1. Sprinkle salt on the radishes, and massage well, until the moisture comes out. Squeeze it out.
2. Add honey dressing into radishes first, then add strawberries and mix gently to coat well with the vinaigrette. Season with a little bit of Salt and pepper to taste.

As you can see, by slicing all the strawberries at once, and making extra honey dressing, you make both salads with only a little more time and effort it takes to make one.  You can eat them both of the same day, or different days.

Hope you try these.  When you do, be sure to leave a comment!

Have a great weekend!

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Tagged as: cesar chavez, children's hospital, cooking, dover park, dressing, easy, food, gluten-free, healthy heart clinic, honey, jean kwon, kale, Oakland, phat beets, radish, raw, Recipe, strawberry, vegan, Vegetarian, vinaigrette