Vegan Kale Caesar Salad

I have always loved caesar salad!  Usually it is made with romaine lettuce, but here I use earthy kale instead to give it a nutritional boost!  This salad has a flavorful dressing that tastes like classic caesar dressing but it happens to be vegan!  If you wanted to make this gluten free, you could use gluten free bread in place of the baguettes.

Author: Amy Lyons O’Neil

Amy has worked for Fresh and Natural Foods since 2006 contributing to the variety of healthful foods we offer. She graduated with a degree in studio art from Bethel University in 2007, but in her senior year of college, found that her passion was with the art of food. She later used her photography and culinary skills to create a vegan food and recipe blog, Fragrant Vanilla Cake. She has also written 3 cookbooks. She specializes in vegan and vegetarian recipes. Local, fresh and organic food has always been her focus in whatever she creates.

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Servings: 4 | Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Ready in: 45 minutes

Ingredients

• Croutons:
• 1/2 french baguette (or other crusty bread loaf) sliced thinly
• Primal Kitchen avocado oil spray
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• sea salt
• 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• Salad:
• 1 large bunch organic kale, washed, dried well and torn into bite sized pieces
• 1/4 cup capers, drained well
• 2/3 cup raw cashew butter
• 1/2 cup filtered water (or as needed)
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tsp white miso
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Instructions

1. To make the croutons, preheat the oven to 350F degrees, and oil a sheet pan.
2. Spread the bread slices out on the pan, spray lightly with the avocado oil, then sprinkle with the garlic powder, sea salt, and nutritional yeast. Place in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until starting to lightly brown at the edges and get crispy. Remove from the oven and let cool.
3. To make the salad, combine the kale and capers in a bowl.
4. In another bowl,whisk together the cashew butter, water, lemon juice, yeast, mustard, miso, sea salt and pepper until smooth. If it seems too thick, add a little more water.
5. Pour the dressing over the salad and massage into the kale with your hands until it is all coated.
6. Serve with the croutons!