Fall Harvest Salad with Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette

I don’t eat very many salads. I think years ago I got burnt out with salads because I ate too many bland ones. Because of that I don’t make them much. I wonder why because they are so easy, quick and you can make them a million different ways? I also think other people’s salads are better than mine. Is that weird? I love to eat my cooking, but when it comes to salads I’ll take someone who prepared it for me!

This salad incorporates some of my favorite things about fall: apples and butternut squash. My favorite fall apple is the Cortland Apple. It seriously tastes like fall in Minnesota to me. I love how white the inside is and it is both sweet and sour. I used a cortland apple in my salad. You can use any variety you want, but I recommend choosing an apple with some tartness. 

On top is this amazingly tangy and sweet maple syrup vinaigrette. I put chicken on the salad so that it would be a whole dinner for us. But if you are serving it as a side dish, you can take out the chicken.

Substitutions: If you are completely sugar free, omit the maple syrup and add 1/4 teaspoon stevia. You get the sweetness of the maple syrup, but without the sugar.

 

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts, baked or pan-fried

2 cups butternut squash, cut into bite sized pieces

1 Tablespoon grapeseed oil

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon Himalayan sea salt

8 cups baby spinach

1 Courtland Apple, cored and diced into bite sized pieces

1/4 cup golden raisins

4 ounces cheve goat cheese

 

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
• Spread the butternut squash evenly on a baking sheet and cover with grapeseed oil and bake for 20 minutes
• While the squash is cooking place the spinach in a big bowl and start to assemble the salad
• Sprinkle the apple, raisins and goat cheese evenly around the salad and once the butternut squash is cooled, do the same
• Make the Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette and pour over the salad and lightly toss the salad

 

Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette

Ingredients: 

2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/3 cup olive oil

 

Directions: 

• In a small bowl whisk together the balsamic vinegar, maple syrup and sea salt until the salt dissolves. While continuing to whisk, add in the olive oil until the ingredients have emulsified 
• You can also add all of the ingredients to a mason jar and shake to combine