Vegan (AND RAW) Citrus-y Salad

Where I live we have this great Natural Foods Grocery Store that has a little hot bar, deli, and prepared salads area.  Well, let me tell you, if I could afford it, I would eat there EVERYDAY!!!  They have this "salad" that they call "Citrus Greens"  It's kale, some chunks of citrus, a great, light dressing.  The best part is, the health factor!

Kale, is one of the healthiest vegetables as it has so many nutrients that help to lower cholesterol, cancer risk, plus it's chock full of antioxidants and helps aid the body in natural detoxification.  Not to mention the 3 kinds of citrus fruit in this salad.  Can you say Vitamin C?! Lypocene also comes in this salad, which helps the body fight off free radicals that can cause cancer. So, make this salad and eat it a lot I promise you won't feel guilty eating it!  I'm going to try and get some nutrition facts on this salad too so you can see just how healthy it is.  I changed the recipe a little (from their website) to work with what I had in my kitchen, still came out great.  I will post my substitutions in parentheses, in case you don't have some of the ingredients on hand.

1 Red Bell Pepper, Julienned 1/8" (I used a yellow one)

5 Bunches of Kale, Cleaned & Trimmed with Ribs Removed (2lb bag of chopped kale)

1/2 lb Grapefruit, Peeled & Seeded Cut into 1/2" Pieces (1 large grapefruit)

1/2 lb Oranges, Peeled & Seeded Cut into 1/2" Pieces (4 oranges)

2 TBS White Wine Vinegar (2.5 TBS Apple Cider Vinegar)

1/4 c Lemon Juice

1/4 c Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp White Pepper

2 TBS Agave Nectar

In a large (very large) bowl combine bell pepper, kale, grapefruit, and oranges.

In a food processor combine the vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and agave nectar.  Blend

until completely emulsified.  Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to dress.  Allow it to sit for at

least an hour before serving, doing so allows the dressing to "break down" the kale which removes

the overly bitter taste raw kale has.

Side Note:  I plugged this recipe in to a calorie counter online.  If you were to eat this as a side, (so that this makes enough for 10 servings) 113 calories per serving, 6 grams of fat, 2 grams protein, 15 grams carbohydrate. 149% Vitamin A, 176% Vitamin C, 11% Calcium, and 6% Iron.  So yeah, I'd say eat up because this is super healthy.  Not like when you go to a salad bar and douse it in super fatty salad dressing!