kale salad with roasted beets & tomatoes, crispy garbanzo beans, and creamy avocado-coconut-dill dressing

spring is my favorite time to visit the farmers market-some of the best local produce is in season, and it's almost hard to decide what to buy. yesterday i picked up the most amazing tender organic kale, purple beans, beets, and sweet organic berries my daughter exclaimed were the best she'd ever had! a few days back i'd had a lovely kale salad with roasted tomatoes and creamy dressing (made with sour cream and parmesan cheese) in a sample size at a fundraising event-i wanted more!  i had to to make the salad-my own way. although it was delicious, i decided to add roasted beets and green beans, and make a "lighter" non dairy dressing with the ripe avocado and fresh dill i had available- so i pulled out the blender, and in went the following ingredients (scroll down):

• avocado-coconut-dill dressing:
• 1 ripe avocado
• 1 small lemon (freshly squeezed juice)
• sea salt (to taste)
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• small sliver of shallot (optional, but good)
• a few (4-5) sprigs of fresh dill
• 1/4 cup good quality coconut milk
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional for spicy)
• blend it all together

for the salad:

• 1 small bunch tender young organic kale (you could substitute bib or romaine lettuce-maybe baby spinach or rocket)
• 1 cup tender green beans (quickly boiled/steamed for a minute or 2)
• 2 organic roma tomatoes
• 2-3 small fresh organic beets
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup (cumin) roasted garbanzo beans-*see recipe below
• 1-2 tsps ground cumin

1. before you put the salad together you will need to roast the tomatoes, beets, and garbanzo beans in the oven. here is the recipe for the *cumin roasted garbanzo beans.

2. slice the roma tomatoes and  beets in about 1/2 inch slices, lay them on a sheet pan, sprinkle with sea salt, freshly cracked pepper, a touch of cumin, and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. bake in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20-30 minutes until they look like this:

3. use fresh "baby" kale, or choose the smaller more tender kale leaves, and devein (remove the hard veiny parts) if necessary. toss the kale and green beans (my purple beans became green as soon as they  felt the heat) with the dressing, then top with roasted vegetables and garbanzo beans. drizzle with a little more dressing.