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We’ve always enjoyed eating salads, but sometimes you just need to mix it up a bit! Today’s recipe features one of our favorite combinations to eat lately and will make the perfect dish to switch it up as Spring arrives. Packed with punches of flavor and paired with an amazing new dressing, this salad also features one of my favorite ingredients… dinosaur kale!
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Let’s start with a little backstory. One of our favorite places to grab a quick meal has always been Crazy Bowls & Wraps. Prior to going plant-based, we would frequent this local “fast-casual” chain that has about 15 locations in the St. Louis area. After we switched to eating plant-based, we would still go there from time to time, but it wasn’t until our friend Caryn Dugan (aka STLVegGirl) partnered up with them to bring a whole food, plant-based dressing/sauce to their menu that we started going there regularly again. Yes – you heard that right – they have an actual WHOLE FOOD, PLANT-BASED dressing on their menu now!
Caryn, who you may know as the founder of the Center For Plant-Based Living, came up with an amazing “Smokey Mediterranean” dressing that can be added to any of their dishes, which already feature a lot of fresh, plant-based ingredients. Our favorite item to order at Crazy Bowls is the Kale & Quinoa Salad, which has chopped kale, quinoa, sun-dried tomatoes, garbanzo beans, Pepperoncini, red onion and Kalamata olives. They do serve it with feta as well, so we always ask to leave that off and add some tofu instead. It normally comes with a tahini vinaigrette, which is vegan, but we really love it with Caryn’s Smokey Mediterranean dressing!
We really wanted to share this salad with you guys, so we called Caryn up and asked if she would be able to share an at-home version of the Smokey Mediterranean dressing and she said YES! She recently posted it to her YouTube Channel, so you can check it out here.
To make the salad, you’ll first need to gather all of the components. Because this requires that you have a batch of cooked quinoa, grilled or baked tofu, cooked chickpeas, etc., I like to cook those the day before in larger batches and then just have them on hand throughout the week as I want a salad.
For the tofu, we press in our tofu press and then use our Griddler Tofu method that we showed you in a video a while back. We just leave out the seasoning and skip the marinating step, as the salad already has enough flavors. It makes really nice looking slices of tofu that you can dice up into the desired size for your salad!
You can see that I prepped the dinosaur kale using my favorite method, as shown in this blog post / video. I used my handy dandy veggie chopper to get it to a nice 1/2-inch dice.
We cook the quinoa on the stove top according to the package instructions.
You can use canned chickpeas or cook them in your Instant Pot. I like to make a larger batch using 3 cups of dry chickpeas. For my 6-quart Instant Pot, I add the chickpeas and then fill the water to the 1/2 way line. I cook on high pressure for 45 minutes and let it naturally release.
For the Smokey Mediterranean dressing, keep in mind that Caryn’s recipe makes about 2 1/2 cups worth, depending on how much water you add. You’ll only need around 1/4 cup per salad, so I usually have enough from one batch to last for a week’s worth of salads. The dressing will also work great on steamed veggies, used as a sandwich spread, or as a dip for veggies!
Other than that, you’ll just need to gather a few simple ingredients, and I promise you’ll have one of the most flavorful salads in town!
Be sure to watch the video to see us make the recipe and get even more tips.
Kale & Quinoa Salad with Smokey Mediterranean Dressing
Ingredients
- – 3 to 4 cups fresh kale, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces (we prefer dinosaur kale)
- – 4oz extra firm tofu
- – 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
- – 1/2 cup cooked garbanzo beans
- – 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, julienned (dry-packed, NOT packed in oil)
- – 1/4 cup sliced Pepperocini (these are usually packed with salt; feel free to rinse if desired)
- – 1/4 cup red onion, finely sliced or diced
- – 2 Tbsp Kalamata olives, sliced
- – 1/4 cup Smokey Mediterranean dressing – click here for recipe with ingredient list
Directions
- Start by prepping your kale. We like to diced ours into 1/2-inch pieces. You’ll want to put it into a large bowl and massage it with your hands before adding the remaining ingredients. Visit this link for more information on how we prep our kale.
- Up next, you’ll want to prep and cook your tofu. Press in a tofu press to remove excess liquid. We usually press and cook the entire 16oz block, but you’ll only need about 4oz per salad. After the tofu is pressed, we slice into 6 to 8 pieces and cook using our Griddler tofu method, but without marinating or adding any seasoning. You could also dice your tofu into desired size pieces and bake at 350°F for about 20 minutes, until it just starts to get golden brown.
- Cook your quinoa according to package instructions. We always use the stove top method.
- If using canned garbanzo beans, drain and rinse. If using dry garbanzo beans, cook using preferred method. We use our 6-quart Instant Pot to cook in batches of 3 cups dry beans, fill the water to the 1/2 way line, and cook on high pressure for 45 minutes.
- Gather remaining ingredients.
- Prepare the Smokey Mediterranean dressing. You can watch the recipe video for it here and get a printable version here.
- Add all ingredients and dressing to a large bowl, mix and enjoy!
Makes one serving.
We hope you enjoy this one as a great way to switch up your salad game. This recipe definitely helped us get through a time when we couldn’t stand the thought of eating another salad!
Special thanks to Crazy, Bowls & Wraps for the inspiration and Caryn Dugan of the Center For Plant-Based Living for sharing the amazing dressing recipe!
As always, we’d love to hear from you if you make the recipe. You can find us on Instagram and Facebook – don’t forget to tag us if you post a photo!
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Cuisinart GR-4NP1 5-in-1 Griddler Brushed StainlessInstant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker
Tofuture’s Tofu Press
Mueller Vegetable/Onion Chopper with Container & 4 Blades
Vitamix A2500 Ascent Series Smart Blender (Renewed)
Alter Eco | Organic Rainbow Heirloom Quinoa
365 by Whole Foods Market, Beans Garbanzo No Salt, 15.5 Ounce
Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomatoes, Julienne Cut
Mezzetta Peppers Deli sliced Golden Greek Peperoncini, 16-Ounce (Pack of 6)
Your Kale & Quinoa Salad with Smokey Mediterranean Dressing is amazing! I had it for breakfast and loved it.
I am looking forward to trying some of your upcoming recipes.
Thank you for all that you do.