How about some beautiful color for your holiday table? Let’s serve up a quinoa salad with some colorful fruits and vegetables. This time of year, I’m always looking for ways I can use winter squash. We usually grow several kinds in our garden but I also love feasting on all that delicious antioxidant power.
Bright orange vegetables are packed with beta-carotene, which our bodies turn into vitamin A. And this precious vitamin will boost our immune systems so we have added protection against many viruses; it will also help us fight off sickness more easily. Sounds good to me, especially with winter in the air. Plant foods like butternut squash also decrease our risk for gaining weight, diabetes, heart disease and even colon cancer. This is due to their high fiber content and the generous amounts of beta-carotene. So I’m thinking orange this holiday season for more reasons than pumpkin pie!
So get your mixing bowl ready–for a delicious salad packed with antioxidants and brimming with delicious flavor. I especially love this salad because of the mix of fruit and veggies–baby spinach (my favorite green), roasted butternut squash, along with apples, onion and raisins. Plus it’s all put together with an apple dressing you will just love!
In a large bowl, I add 1 cup of cooked tri-color quinoa, roasted butternut squash, diced apple (I used Gala but Honeycrisp would be great too), thinly sliced green onion, baby spinach, raisins and nuts (nuts can be optional if you are trying to lose some weight). Mix in the desired amount of dressing and season with salt and basil, as needed. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
CHEF’S NOTE: This recipe takes only about 35 minutes to make, from start to finish. To cut corners, you could make the dressing a day ahead. To prevent wilting, add the dressing just before ready to serve.
Harvest Butternut Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup tri-color cooked quinoa
- 1 cup cubed and roasted butternut squash
- 1 sweet apple diced
- 1 green onion thinly sliced
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 1/3 cup raisins
- 2 T slivered almonds opt.
- salt or salt substitute to taste
- Basil to taste
- Apple Juice Dressing
Instructions
- Prepare the Apple Dressing: In a small saucepan, add 1 cup apple juice, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons minced onion. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat. Let it cool for about 8 minutes or until it has reduced to a one-half cup. Remove from the heat and pour into a glass jar or a glass measuring cup. Whisk in 1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey, 2 teaspoons vegetable broth, and 1 teaspoon of turmeric. Add salt and dried basil to taste. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the cooled quinoa, roasted butternut squash, apple, green onion, baby greens, raisins, and nuts, if desired. Mix in the desired amount of dressing and season with additional salt and basil, as needed. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
- CHEF’S NOTE: As a variation, you could add pomegranate seeds in place of the raisins. What a burst of color that would be! You could also use baby kale in place of the spinach or a blend of spinach and kale. This recipe takes only about 35 minutes to make, from start to finish. To cut corners, you could make the dressing a day ahead. Recipes serves 6.
