Kale, Strawberry and Avocado Salad with Speedy Jam Jar Dressing

Photography by Kristy Plumridge

Christmas is a time of goodwill and eftpos are running a cracker of a campaign.  This year they’re giving up to $2 million dollars to two specific organisations, Diabetes Australia and the Cancer Council Australia, as part of eftpos Giveback. 

Diabetes Australia are using their funding to create a new online support platform for 1.5 million Australians with diabetes and to further early intervention and prevention for the 2 million others with pre-diabetes symptoms. 

If you wander over to their website you’ll find that they’re currently running a healthy recipe competition up until Christmas, aiming to receive from the community as many healthy recipes as possible. If you have a favourite healthy recipe that you’d like to share, you can submit yours here and the very good news is that you don’t have to weight ooops wait too long to find out if you’re a winner because they’re picking out their favourite recipes weekly and dishing out $1000 dining experiences.  I want to enter!

Living with diabetes can be a challenge but getting rest, doing gentle forms of exercise and eating and maintaining a healthy diet including delicious recipes can really help to play a major part of a well-rounded holistic approach to managing the disease. 

If you think that diet doesn’t really matter then the following research may surprise you; can you believe that drinking just one can of soft drink a day can increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 22%?  That’s a really smart reason to ditch soft drinks for good and replace them with healthy juices, smoothies like this almond and berry, filtered water or herbal tea. A research study was conducted by three doctors at Imperial College London and they reported their findings in the journal Diabetologia. They discovered that the impact of sugary soft drinks on diabetes risk may be a direct one, rather than just an influence on a person’s weight on the scales.

I’ve been working on developing a couple of delicious supercharged recipes which are diabetic-friendly starting with an eye-popping salad just in time for the warmer weather and rounding it off with a healthy and nutritious muffin which can be eaten as a treat by you and your family.

I tested the recipes out on my friend Catherine who has diabetes and here’s what she had to say, “Finally, some diabetic friendly recipes that don’t remind me of a school canteen lunch!  It’s always helpful when the ingredients are readily available and the instructions easy to follow.  Best of all they tasted great and didn’t spike my BSL.”

My Kale, Strawberry and Avocado Salad with Speedy Jam Jar Dressing is full of good-for-you vegetables and berries and topped with healthy fats which combine to make a nutrient dense meal suitable for diabetics. 

It’s a beautiful blend of sweetness and bitterness and the vibrant assortment of colours make you want to dive straight into it. Just one serving of kale delivers protein, fibre and impressive dosages of vitamin A, and C, making it rich in powerful antioxidants.

You’ll find it’s easy and simple to make and no cooking involved means you get to spend more time with friends and family this holiday season.   It’s a welcome dish to bring to summer lunches where many dishes are typically full of high carbohydrates and if you’re looking for a knockout marinade this dressing is multi-dimensional!

Kale, Strawberry and Avocado Salad with Speedy Jam Jar Dressing

Serves 2-3


Ingredients:

• 1 bunch kale, chopped into slices
• 1 whole lemon

• 2 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil

• Pinch of CelticSea Salt
• 1 Avocado Pitted
• ¼ cup pine nuts
• 1 cup strawberries washed and quartered

Speedy Jam Jar Dressing


• ¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 TBS Apple Cider Vinegar

• 1 tsp. sugar free mustard

• ½ shallot, diced

• Pinch Celtic Sea Salt

• 1 TBS wheat free tamari

Method

• In a large bowl place lemon juice and olive oil and stir then massage it into kale leaves adding a pinch or two of sea salt. Keep massaging until leaves are soft and dark green
• Add remaining ingredients and toss
• To make the dressing whisk all ingredients together

This recipe can be stored in the fridge in a covered container for up to 4 days.

Next I have some delicious Carrot and Spinach Muffins.  Click here for the recipe.