Winter Salad with Butternut Squash and Cranberry Dressing
Dive into the healing foods that comprise this low-fat winter salad: cranberries, greens, pomegranate arils, and winter squash combine in a flavorful, crowd-pleasing way.
Servings 6
Equipment
- Baking sheet
- Blender
- 1 Large serving bowl
- Small dressing bowl
Ingredients
Salad Base
- 1 head of Romaine lettuce, chopped
- 1 head of butterleaf lettuce
- 2 mandarins, peeled and separated
- ½ avocado thinly sliced
- ⅓ cup pomegranate arils
- 2 ½ cups butternut squash
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp garam masala
- ½ cup crushed walnuts
Salad Dressing
- 1 cup cranberries
- ¼ cup orange juice
- ⅓ cup coconut sugar
- ⅓ cup lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 inch knob of ginger
- 1 shallot peeled and finely chopped
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 450 F and line a baking sheet with parchment.
- Place the cubed butternut squash in a mixing bowl with the cinnamon, garam masala and the maple syrup. Mix so that the seasonings are evenly coated.
- Place evenly spaced on the lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
- While the butternut squash is baking, chop the salad ingredients and peel the mandarins. Place in your salad serving bowl.
- You can also start prepping the dressing while you are waiting for the butternut squash to bake.
- Add all the dressing ingredients to the blender except for the shallots and blend until smooth. Blend for 1 - 2 minutes.
- Pour the dressing into a bowl and add in the shallots and mix well.
- By now, the butternut squash should be done or nearly done.
- Take the baking tray out and flip the cubes so the side on the bottom is on the top and bake for another 10 minutes to become golden brown as well.
- Once baked, remove and allow it to cool. The butternut squash can be warm to add to the salad but not too hot.
- Assemble the salad and add the warm butternut squash to the salad bowl.
- Add the pomegranate arils and finally the avocado slices on top.
- Garnish with the crushed walnuts and serve salad with the dressing on the side.
Notes
When I made this during Thanksgiving the supermarket was out of butternut squash, so I used delicata instead. Feel free to use whichever squash you have readily available, though I do recommend butternut!
