Warm Tomato Kale Salad

I love salad.  Especially in the summer.  There is nothing like a fresh, crisp, cold salad in the heat of the summer.  But it's not fair to the salad that I limit it to one season.  That is where a nice hearty warm salad comes in.  A warm salad is the beef stew to my gazpacho, the eggnog to my mojito, the sweater to my bikini.  This salad is the perfect transition from the heat of the summer to a chilly fall night.  With its fresh roasted basil garlic tomatoes and hearty kale it's sure to make it into your winter sides rotation.  Don't believe me ask the dishes...

.....they don't lie :-)

Ingredients:
- Kale (I bought mine in a bag already cut and destemmed and then chopped it chiffonade)
- Juice of 1 Lemon
- 1 T Olive Oil
- Himalayan sea salt (to taste)
- 6 plum tomatoes cut in half either length or width wise (make sure to take a little sliver off the base so it sits flat on the baking sheet)
- 1/2 c Fresh Basil (cut chiffonade)
- 5 cloves fresh garlic (minced)
- Salt (to taste)
- Optional: toasted pine nuts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300.  Massage kale with lemon juice and olive oil and let sit to soften.  Place tomatoes on baking sheet. Spray and rub with Pam olive oil spray.  Sprinkle generously with salt, top with garlic and basil.   Bake for 35 min or longer until  tomatoes soften and begin to collapse (trust me, the longer the better...lol....that's what she said).  Anyways, when the tomatoes are done place on top of a bed of your marinated kale, sprinkle with toasted pine nuts, and dig in! So good!