An Easy Summer Salad for the Hottest Days

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Favorite cutting board set

I’m on a big kick when it comes to cutting down on refined grains and eating more whole foods – a bit cleaner for the summer. It’s a nice balance to vacation dining where those kinds of choices aren’t always readily available. This recipe is terrific since it almost 100% fits the bill, plus, anything I don’t have to bake or cook these days, I am all for (especially when it’s projected to be in the 90’s all week up here). This recipe also packs a protein punch that will keep you full longer.

This recipe also hits on a few great tasting notes. The fat comes from the tuna and white beans, acid from the pepperoncinis and white wine vinegar, sweetness from a touch of honey or raw turbinado sugar, and crunch from the raw red onions and almond slices. I also recommend serving over a beautiful dark green dinosaur kale to get another veggie into your day and serving it alongside Simple Mills’ almond flour sea salt crackers for an extra bite and bit of saltiness.

This makes about 4 servings, or 3.75 adult servings and 4 toddler servings, which they may or may not eat.

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What you’ll need:

For the white bean and tuna salad:

2 cans white beans (I used Great Northern beans)

2 cans tuna

1/4-ish of a red onion, finely diced (you’ll use this raw, so bigger chunks mean bigger bites of that peppery raw taste)

Marinated artichoke hearts (I used almost a whole 6oz jar of them), chopped

Pepperoncinis (about 8-10), chopped

1 heart of palm, sliced

1/3 c toasted crushed or slivered almonds (I crushed up the leftover whole almonds that I pulled out of my 2-year-old’s trail mix)

Juice of 1/2 a lemon (you’ll use the other 1/2 for the dressing)

Salt and pepper (Maldon sea salt flakes to finish)

For the salad base:

Simple Mills almond flour sea salt crackers

Dinosaur (or Tuscan) kale, chopped and massaged

For the dressing:

1/2 tsp white wine vinegar

1.5 tsp juice from the pepperoncini jar

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tsp of Dijon mustard

1.5 tbsp good quality olive oil

1 tsp of honey

Salt and pepper to taste

To Assemble:

Add the ingredients for the salad in order in a large bowl. Mix them together gingerly to keep the beans as intact as possible – you don’t want to end up with a mushy beige dish). You only want to stir them together so they’re mixed in. That’s it. Resist the temptation to do any more than that.

Combine all ingredients for the dressing. I use this salad dressing mixer EVERY TIME. It’s so good. Make sure you taste it and edit the ingredients as you see fit. I didn’t have any honey so ended up sprinkling about a tablespoon of raw turbinado sugar directly into the salad to sweeten it just a hair. Squeeze that half of a lemon and gently mix it in.

Finally, lay down a bed of dino kale – or butter lettuce – then top it with your salad. Finish with a pinch of Maldon sea salt flakes (nothing better) and salt and pepper and serve. Enjoy!