First Day of School!

Today was my first official day of school as a Nutrition Consultant student at Bauman College. And I had a great time! We got our books in this great canvas bag with all these handouts and PH strips, I felt like a little girl on her first day of kindergarten. Really? Lord, I get to go to this school? It still blows my mind how He pulled all this together in one week.

During every class we break half way for snack time and someone will perform a cooking demo. Since today was the first day our teacher presented the demo and provided the class with a great raw, vegan, and gluten-free kale salad. I was so excited when I saw the kale in a large bowl, and the best part: I got be her assistant and I massaged the kale! I learned a new trick to easily de-stem the kale. I will try to explain it to you in the best way I can with out showing you. Grab the stem with one hand, clasp around the stem with your pointer and thumb from your other hand and pull the leaves all the way down the stem.

Sweet and Tart Kale Salad

Salad
kale, with stems removed
apples, diced
cranberries
walnuts, crushed
red onions, diced
Chop kale and massage for awhile with a bit of sea salt. Throw in a large bowl with all other ingredients.

Dressing
1/4 C olive oil
1/8 C pomegranate vinegar
juice from half an orange
juice from half a lemon
1/4 t sweetener (date sugar, agave, rice syrup-if desired)
Whisk all ingredients together except the oil. Gradually add oil while whisking to fully emulsify. Pour over mixed salad.

Emulsifying is a process where you mix two ingredients together that normally won't combine on their own. Oils do not combine with other liquids so when you whisk slowly the dressing combines easier. You can also use a blender or a food processor to make dressings with oils. I learned about emulsifying today at school. Growing up and even throughout college my Papa would ask me every single time we talked, "what did you learn at school today?" And so I always think about him after school and recall the things I learned. I remembered him especially today and like to think that if he were still here he would be so proud of me for chasing after this dream of mine.

Now, normally the cooking-demo's are done by us students and since I will be coming back to Santa Barbara after the first module at Bauman and switching over to Distance Learning I made sure to sign up right away. So next Wednesday I will be bringing one of my recipes and sharing a snack with the class. I am so excited and will be mulling over ideas all week! Any suggestions?

Blessings,
<3 Dani

*Recipe courtesy of Susan Arther, NC of Bauman College, thanks!