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Here’s the thing about salad… and Mondays.
Yes, they are typical to put together, BUTÂ the way I do it is it a little different than the way some may do it.
Monday’s can be pretty rough (at least for me), so instead of a salad with boring lettuce and a dressing that lacks flavor, you know, the ones that make you wish it was Friday again and eating the cheesiest of pizzas. The way I do a salad is worthy of a Friday night meal…but still healthy!
Because in my opinion, that is the only way to do salad. And Monday.
Deliciously!!
This salad has some of my all time favorite flavors. Especially now that it is summer, Thai food just screams summer food to me.
I mean can we just look at the beautiful colors going on in this salad for a second? Gosh, I just love the colors. They make me smile.
So, there is kind of a lot going on here.
Let’s just start with the salad base. I was at the grocery store and they had this huge box of baby kale with an even huger (is that a word?) mark down sticker on it. Of course I had to go check it out. You guys, this baby kale was the cutest. Not a bad leaf in sight. Obviously, I snatched that box up before anyone else even knew it was there.
But then, when I got home, I didn’t know what to do with the baby kale. I thought “Oh NO! I have all this cute baby kale. What do I do with it?”.
From there I just decided to throw it in a big bowl and stare at it for a while. Then I went to the pantry, grabbed a handful of my all-time favorite Thai ingredients (my homemade sweet Thai chili sauce included – because I cannot get enough of it) and started mixing things. Then I knew I was going Thai all way with this one.
I had also bought some flank steak at the store, so that was going in too. Aside from the steak there had to be tons and tons of veggies. I can never get enough veggies and fruits – love them, but I bet you already knew that.
I also threw in some hard-boiled eggs because I had some in the fridge since my little sister Asher eats like six a day. NO JOKE. The little five-year old loves hard-boiled eggs. Honestly, she practically survives off them. We better hope those little chickens of ours can seriously crank out the eggs. We shall see soon…
Once I had all the veggies and kale in a bowl, I just looked at it. It seemed to be missing an element. Then I remembered the edamame in the freezer. YES. Just what the salad needed.
FYI, I recommend buying the shelled edamame. I think I spent thirty minutes of my day shelling edamame. So boring.
For the dressing I wanted to keep it simple and light, but still somewhat creamy. I went with a tahini based dressing because I never use tahini and wanted to do something a little different. So glad I did, this dressing is one of my most favorites. It is so good. If you are a dressing lover, I highly recommend doubling it. You are going to want it all for yourself.
As for the cashews? Well, I think every salad needs a good crunch factor and nuts are my go to. Especially cashews, they are my favorite. So to top it all off, I took my cashews and went and added some sesame oil, chili powder and lime to the mix. Pure perfection atop a salad if you ask me.
Wow, I am realizing I just talked your ear off about this salad. And on a Monday too! Ugh. So sorry, I am clearly very excited about this meal. It’s a new favorite and I know it may seem like it has a lot of ingredients, but I promise the recipe comes together so quickly. TRUST ME. You have to try this one.
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
I can guarantee it will spice up your Monday!
So creative and the perfect for summer!
Thanks Olivia!
Love all the colors and textures! Tahini dressing is my fave and would definitely brighten up a Monday.
Thanks so much, Tessa! Hoping your Monday was a good one!
First thing I thought was that with the steak and dark greens it would be perfect for all the iron-deficient women in my family! Looks delicious!
Haha! It sure would!
Thanks!
Mondays are always a bit rough, but this salad for lunch would def put the kinks out!
Thanks Naomi! Hope you had a good Monday!
Your recipes are always so amazing! Your hard work is obvious!
Thank you so much for the kind words! 🙂
Why does your food always look like art? Seriously, beautiful photos!! And this is my kind of salad. 🙂
Aww!! THANK YOU! 🙂
Makin my day!
Now this salad is making Mondays way more tolerable!
Thanks Lauren! Hope you had a great day!
This looks like the perfect salad to eat after a weekend of indulging! Can’t wait to try this Tieighan!
Thanks Kathy!
I am so making this salad..I just bought edamame and thai chili cashews at traders yesterday so I’m almost there. This looks so good…I’ve never used tahini for anything other than hummus so it’s good to know I can do something else with it.
Oh you are so almost there! 🙂
Thanks and enjoy!
Like the steak, makes the salad more manly. Having a contest with the wife who can loose 10 pounds quicker, need lots of salad to help me be the winner! Still deciding what the winner gets.
Thanks!
This looks deliciously fresh and un-Monday like. I especially love that baby kale. I discovered it last year and it works great for salads, pasta, everything. so good!
Thanks Bri and yes, baby kale it awesome!
Gorgeous looking salad. Yum
Thank you so much, Melissa!
Whenever I think that your photos can’t get any more gorgeous, these happen. These are MY FAV ever. And this salad? I don’t need no utensils, I’ll happily face plant right into the center of the bowl and eat my way out. Pinned!
Aww! Thank you so much for you constant kind comments. It so nice! 🙂
Such vibrant colours! It looks delicious 🙂
Thank you!
I could dive head first into that bowl, I swear.
Haha! Thanks!