New Food Loves

I always hated kale- it was too bitter and fibrous- and I love me some crunchy, fibrous vegetables. I could tolerate it slightly cooked in olive oil and garlic (both of which make everything better in my opinion.) And once I made kale chips which were good. But raw, forget about it. I will stick with romaine, thank you very much.

But lately, since trying massaged kale salad, I can't get enough. Seriously, I wax poetic about it to the husband, who thinks I have lost it. I buy at least 2 bunches a week now, and each bunch makes 1-2 salads for me, depending on whether I feel nice enough to share. ;)

I haven't been posting all my salads for the June Salad a Day Challenge, but you can be sure I have been eating at least one, often two every single day. Today, I used a different dressing on it- one that is not all that innovative, but kind of new to me as I don't normally use mustard much. (I also left out the anchovy, so I can't attest to whether that would improve it. I did add capers though, and they gave it a nice zing.)

This salad has:
 the leaves ripped off from stems from a half bunch of kale, torn into small pieces
1 tomato
broccoli sprouts
1 avocado

Dressing:
juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons horseradish, hemp and honey mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
clove garlic, minced
couple spoons capers
salt
pepper

I whisked the dressing together, poured it on the kale, massaged it in, tossed in everything else and dug in. I think the mustard (a local brand, I think) and the capers really made it.

Another thing we have been eating a lot of lately is pineapple. Fresh is the best-tasting, but sometimes I just want convenience. Cutting up a pineapple after waiting for it to ripen is not convenient. So we often just eat the frozen stuff, often still frozen. I buy Trader Joes Tidbits, which we use in smoothies, straight out of the freezer (refreshing), and below, on a salad.

I have never loved bell peppers, cooked or raw. My mom always did a great job with them, sauteing them with onions and mushrooms.  I just didn't like peppers. Now they often make appearances in salads and yesterday we made stuffed ones. This salad had baby spinach, tomato, yellow pepper, red onion, pineapple, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. The pineapple was a nice surprise.

So those are my new food loves lately- pineapple, bell peppers, mustard, capers, and kale. Are there any foods you never particularly loved, and now you can't get enough?