good eats: brownie payback

Last night, as I was walking home in the dark and cold, I ducked into a grocery store to grab a couple of things. The only thing I came out with was a packet brownie mix.

You know how they say you shouldn't go grocery shopping when you're hungry? I'd like to add to that, you also should avoid it when you're cold and tired. When your finger tips are freezing and your eyelids are heavy, there's only one thing on your mind: buttery, chocolatey baked goods, as fast as possible please.

So that happened. I came home, I made the brownies, and just like that, dinner was made.
What I'm trying to say is I had brownies for dinner.
Now if there's one thing I've learnt from one of my favourite food bloggers, Joy the Baker, it's that when you have brownies for dinner (which is totally okay... sometimes.) you become in debt to yourself, for which payment is only accepted in leafy-green-salad form.

With that in mind, I wandered into my kitchen this morning, realised I had purchased a bunch of radishes on a whim last week, and knew exactly what to do! I'm literally eating this salad as I write this, and I can tell you: it doesn't taste like brownie payback at all– just a bowl of tasty goodness, bonus!


Kale and Cashew and Cranberry Salad
(adapted slightly from Joy's recipe)

for the salad
4 heaping cups green or purple kale
4 heaping cups baby spinach
4-5 radishes (mine were little, so I used 6)
1/2 cup cashews (I like them roasted and lightly salted, but you can also use raw ones.)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup soft goats cheese

for the dressing
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons dijon mustard (or wholegrain... or a bit of both!)
1 teaspoon white whine vinegar (I only had rice wine vinegar at home, and that worked out fine.)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
salt and pepper

Wash the kale, spinach and radishes. If you have a salad spinner, spin those greens. If you don't (like me), just pop them on some paper towel to dry out.

Chop or tear the kale into strips. (some people like to cut the leaves away from the stalk, but I kinda like the crunch of it, so I leave it in.) and put them with the baby spinach into a large serving bowl.

Slice up your radishes. I have a mandolin slicer, which is so much fun (when it's not taking off the tips of your fingers...), and perfect for this job. I experimented with different thicknesses and the medium one was definitely the best– delicate, but still with that lovely radish crunch.

Roughly chop the cashews and sprinkle them, the sliced radishes and the dried cranberries over the greens.

Whisk in a bowl, or shake together in a small jar (with a liquid-proof lid) the mustard, oil, vinegar, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Drizzle it over the salad, and top it with the crumbled goats cheese.

serve and eat away all that brownie guilt.