Hearty Pumpkin Seed Salad

Hearty salads are salads that offer a variety of nutrients as well as flavors, and are also healthy filling salads. We call this salad a Hearty Salad because not only does it include hearts of palms, but the combination of ingredients makes it good for your heart. Cruciferous vegetables are full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber that help lower cholesterol and triglycerides. This Hearty Salad includes cabbage, kale, and broccoli which are all cruciferous vegetables. Whole cruciferous food, as mentioned above, have a variety of health benefits linked to them.

Directions

1. Rinse all vegetables thoroughly and prepare as follows:

   • Kale – Remove stems and tear leaves into bite sized pieces
   • Cabbage - Slice into long slivers
   • Broccolini - Cut into bite size chunks
   • Zucchini & Yellow Squash - Spiralize using a zoodler, or slice with a mandolin.
   • Carrots - Peel and slice into circle slices.

2. Place vegetables, hearts of palm, and Eatnuts.com Pumpkin Seeds in a large bowl.

3. Put all dressing ingredients into a Vitamix machine or blender. Start on low, working your way to high until completely blended and liquefied.

4. Toss the salad with the dressing and serve. If you have leftovers, store the salad in the dressing in an airtight container up to 2 days in the refrigerator.

This thick avocado dressing coats the salad and makes it more like a raw pasta dish with the spiralized squash. The creamy avocado anchors in a satiation with each bite and enhances the flavor of the different vegetables. The texture of the crunchy cabbage, kale, carrots and broccolini are wonderful. The hint of lemon in the background of the salad dressing is a great backbone in tying together all the different flavors of all the different vegetables.