Alright, my last couple posts were fall in a mug and fall in a bowl (well, I guess my bowl was really a giant mug. Technicality.) Now fall on a plate!
I had originally titled this my “Beckoning Fall Salad,” because I planned to post it last week when the weather was still bright and sunny and warm. (Hmmmmm, why am I complaining?)
It’s my first fall back in Northern California where our leaves actually change colors and we get that gloomy overcast sky that I can’t help but love for some bizarre reason, and I was getting impatient for it to really feel like fall. Well in the time it took me to plan and test this recipe, real fall weather arrived!
I think just planning the recipe and buying the ingredients made it happen! Yes, I’m sure that was it. It wasn’t just the natural change of seasons. It was totally this salad.
So now it’s more of a “Welcoming Fall Salad!”
This salad is just brimming with the perfect combination of hot and cold ingredients. Cool crisp greens. Dried cranberries & candied pecans. Warm roasted butternut squash. Hot sauteed mushrooms. It’s really not a light salad. It’s a fully-loaded, many-layered, more-time-consuming-than-most-salads kind of meal, and it is soooooo yummy.
Oh, man.
serves 1
1 C butternut squash cubes
1 T maple syrup
1 T + 1 t olive oil, divided
1 C cremini mushrooms, sliced
salt & pepper to taste
1 1/2 C choice of lettuce
1/2 small pear, diced
1 T dried cranberries
1 T candied pecans, chopped (or whole if you want ’em that way!)
2 t balsamic vinegar
1/2 t dijon mustard
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat butternut squash in maple syrup and 1 teaspoon of olive oil until well coated. Put on an oil-sprayed baking sheet and roast for about 30-45 minutes (depends on the size of your cubes), until fork tender.
While your squash is roasting, heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a medium skillet and saute your mushrooms until browned and slightly shrunken.
Then you can start assembling your salad! Pile all your toppings high! To make the dressing, combine the last teaspoon of olive oil with balsamic vinegar and dijon mustard, whisk until well combined, and pour on top.
This salad just tastes like fall. Seriously. And smells like it. And looks like it. Soooo happy 🙂
Nutrition facts per serving: Calories: 397; Calories from Fat: 216; Total Fat: 24.0g; Saturated Fat: 3.1g; Sodium: 49mg; Total Carbohydrates: 47.5g; Dietary Fiber: 9.6g; Sugars: 26.1g; Protein: 4.5g
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