White Bean & Heirloom Tomato Salad With Crispy Kale Croutons

I used to love croutons as a kid – they add a nice crunchy / salty kick to a salad and balance nicely with a creamy dressing. This is my current version of croutons… kale chips. This salad was delicious 🙂

Ingredients:

For the salad:

• 3 cups organic mixed greens, rinsed and dried
• 2 small heirloom tomatoes (one yellow, one red), sliced
• ½ cup canned organic cannellini beans, rinsed & drained
• 1 tsp. capers
• Dried dill spice, to taste

For the crispy kale ‘croutons’:

• 2 cups curly kale leaves
• 1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
• ½ tsp. garlic powder
• ¼ tsp. onion powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. canola oil
• Canola cooking oil spray
• Directions:

For the creamy vinaigrette dressing:

• ¼ cup red wine vinegar
• ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp. spicy brown mustard or Dijon mustard
• ½ tsp. nutritional yeast
• ¼ tsp. white cane sugar
• ¼ tsp. iodized salt
• A dash of black pepper, to taste

To Make:

For the crispy kale croutons:

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Rinse and pat dry the kale leaves, remove stems and put the leaves into a bowl. Add 1 tsp. canola oil, 1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, 1/4 tsp. onion powder and 1/4 tsp. salt. Mix ingredients together until the leaves are covered with the toppings.

Spread leaves into a single layer on a non-stick cookie sheet and bake for 8- 10 minutes (make sure to check them at 8 minutes, as oven temperatures vary).

For the creamy vinaigrette dressing:

Combine all ingredients in a glass jar with a lid. Shake and enjoy!

For the salad:

Toss 3 cups of organic mixed baby greens in a large serving bowl with 2 Tbsp. creamy vinaigrette dressing. Top with ½ cup cannellini beans, heirloom tomato slices, 1 tsp. capers, a few sprinkles of dried dill spice and crispy kale croutons.