Healthy Fall Salad

This Healthy Fall Salad is filled with some of the best seasonal flavors. All tossed together with a tangy apple cider vinaigrette. It’s easy to throw together, colorful, filling, healthy and delicious.

This salad recipe is flexible, so play around with the ingredients and add whatever you like. This is what you will need:

• Butternut squash: peeled, cubed, and roasted in the oven. Save time, and buy pre-cut butternut squash. You could also use sweet potato or another type of winter squash.
• Kale, arugula, or spinach. To save time, you could use the Sweet Kale Chopped Salad Mix.
• Quinoa or Rice: use any kind.
• Apples: Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, and Fuji are my favorites. Or you could use pears or figs.
• Dried cranberries or raisins add sweetness.
• Nuts and seeds: pecans, walnuts, or roasted pumpkin seeds add crunch, flavor, and healthy fats.
• Crumbled feta cheese, goat, or blue cheese
• Apple cider vinaigrette: a simple yet flavorful dressing made of honey, Dijon mustard, garlic, apple cider vinegar, and extra virgin olive oil
• Protein: toss in some shredded chicken or chickpeas (optional)

Ingredients:

• One butternut squash peeled, seeded and diced
• ½ tablespoon oil of choice
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup quinoa or Rice 
• 2 cups chopped kale leaves
• Two small apples, pears, or figs sliced or dice

Toppings:

• ¼ cup dried cranberries
• ¼ cup pecans roughly chopped
• ⅓ cup reduced-fat crumbled feta cheese
• 2 tbsp nuts or seeds

For the apple cider vinaigrette:

• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegarette
• 1 tbsp maple syrup or honey
• 1.5 tsp Dijon mustard
• One garlic clove minced

Directions

Roast the butternut squash. Toss with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast until tender.

Cook the quinoa and let it cool.

Make dressing. Put all the ingredients in a jar and shake until combined.

Massage the kale. Kale can be tough and bitter. Massage it with half of the dressing to bring out the sweetness and make it more tender. Add the kale to a salad bowl with 1/2 of the dressing and toss until it’s evenly coated.

Assemble – Add the quinoa, butternut squash, and apples into the bowl with the kale, and toss to combine.