Strawberry Kale Salad with Bacon Dressing

A fresh salad can feel like a small luxury on a day when most of your cooking has been careful and considered. This one comes together in about 20 minutes, with only the bacon needing the stove, and it gives you something bright, a little indulgent, and entirely built for you.

Kale is a real source of vitamin C and the fiber and magnesium that leafy greens bring, all of which support a calmer gut and steady energy, and the avocado adds the kind of fat that helps your body actually absorb those nutrients. The strawberries stand in here for the cherry tomatoes a salad like this often uses, keeping it nightshade-free while still giving you color and a little sweetness, kept modest since fruit carries its own natural sugar. The dressing is where the real swap lives: coconut cream replaces egg-based mayonnaise, so you keep a rich, savory bacon dressing built from real ingredients.

Source the bacon from pork raised well, and read the label for clean ingredients, no added sugar, no seasonings you would not recognize. Build the salad to be beautiful: the deep green of the kale, the red of the strawberries, the pale green of the avocado. Take a breath before you eat. A plate this alive deserves a moment of attention.

Ingredients

Salad:

• 8 cups kale, chopped
• 2 cups strawberries, sliced
• 1 large avocado, diced

Dressing:

• 4 slices bacon
• 1/2 cup coconut cream (in place of egg-based mayonnaise; egg is excluded on Core)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• black pepper omitted (excluded on Core)

Method

Put the chopped kale, sliced strawberries, and diced avocado in a large bowl. If your kale is tough, massage it with your hands for a minute first to soften it.

Cook the bacon in a skillet until crisp, drain it on a paper towel, and crumble it. Whisk the crumbled bacon together with the coconut cream, honey, apple cider vinegar, and salt into a dressing, then pour it over the salad and toss until everything is coated. Serve right away. If you make the dressing ahead, note that coconut cream stiffens in the fridge, so let it come to room temperature and whisk it loose before tossing. For a heartier meal, fold in leftover chopped chicken.

*Adapted from acleanplate.com*