Green Apple-Kale-Avocado Slaw

It's almost time for the school year to close and official summer to commence. The coming Memorial Day weekend has people sprucing up their yards and venturing to the farmer's market looking for fresh greens and plants.  It's time to pull out the grill and have the friends and family over, and time to cook up a few great salads and grill the rest. And maybe an adventurous, but simple fresh kale slaw could catch your attention...

I was making a kale slaw I loved for years- my Tangy Kale Slaw- but then discovered a little avocado in place of some of the nuts and seeds was just the right move to try something a little different.

This is a bunch of curly kale, but you could use some lacinato kale too for this recipe. Both work great and you'll find that you like one variety over the other. Or perhaps you have some growing in the yard and if you do, you usually have TONS of it as it grows and need a little inspiration to keep up :)

I used some crunchy sweet and tart green apples in this slaw and if you cut them small and thin, they are the perfect match to the soft kale after its been rubbed with the sweet lime dressing. This recipe is ridiculously simple- so you can add or take away from it depending what is fresh that week in your garden or what you got on hand before a last minute cook-out. I hope you give it a try and seek a little green crunchy (maybe said at one point to be odd), but wonderful fresh and tasty kale slaw.

Green Apple-Kale-Avocado Slaw Recipe
gluten, dairy, egg, nut, seed and soy-free

1 (1pound) bunch of fresh kale (washed, dried and finely chopped)
2 small green tart apples, finely chopped
2 very ripe avocados, finely chopped in chunks
1/3 cup of organic raisins
1/3 cup of finely sliced red or sweet onion
1/2 cup of finely chopped fresh cilantro or basil or a combo

sweet lime dressing
2 TB olive or avocado oil
1 fresh lime squeezed (2 TB's juice)
1 TB of red wine vinegar
1 TB of Dijon mustard
1-2 TB of maple syrup
healthy pinch of salt and pepper

In a large mixing bowl, mix by hand the kale and herbs and apples and half of the avocado. In a small Ball jar, mix and shake up all of the dressing ingredients and then pour over the slaw and use your hands to massage well into the finely chopped leaves. Then top with the rest of the avocado, and raisins and optional onions. You can add more or less of the dressing if needs more and you can half or double this recipe depending on your group size.

Happy chopping, and ENJOY xoxo