Strawberry Kale Salad

Week 492. Summer 2025. I am 42 years old and standing in my kitchen — the Bench house kitchen, the one that held cancer and divorce and cinnamon rolls — and the stove is on and something is cooking and the house smells like grilled food and garden herbs and this is my life. This is the life I built.

The clinic was busy this week — spring puppies and summer emergencies and the constant, comforting cycle of animals who need care and humans who love them enough to bring them in.

Mason is 14 and navigating middle school with the quiet competence that has always been his way — focused, kind, certain of who he is in a way that took me thirty years to achieve.

Lily is 12 and riding horses with the fearlessness of someone who has never considered the possibility of falling.

I made watermelon feta salad this week. The food continues. The food always continues. It is the thread that connects every week to every other week, every year to every other year, every version of me to every other version — the woman on the kitchen floor, the woman at the chemo recliner, the woman at the grill, the woman at the outdoor table under the string lights. All of them, connected by the food they made with their hands. All of them, me.

I didn’t have watermelon this week — the garden timing was off and the store felt like too much — so I made this instead, and it turned out to be exactly right. Strawberries from the farmers market, kale from the back bed, something bright and effortless that asked nothing of me on a week that already had plenty of asks. It sat on the outdoor table under the string lights and it was enough. It is always enough.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 15 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

6 cups fresh kale, stems removed and leaves torn or thinly sliced
2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

Massage the kale. Place the torn kale leaves in a large bowl. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and a pinch of salt. Using your hands, massage the kale for 1–2 minutes until it softens slightly and turns a deeper green.
Make the dressing. In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, and Dijon mustard until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Assemble the salad. Add the sliced strawberries, red onion, and toasted almonds to the kale. Drizzle with the dressing and toss gently to coat everything evenly.
Finish and serve. Top with crumbled feta. Serve immediately, or refrigerate for up to 30 minutes before serving — the kale holds up well and only gets better as it sits.

Nutrition (per serving)

Strawberry Kale Salad — The Food That Connects Every Version of Me