Holiday Kale Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash
Kale salad tossed in an apple cider mustard vinaigrette, topped with roasted butternut squash, cranberries, and candied maple pecans. Perfect for the holidays!
After making three batches of cookies in the past week, I really needed this salad. Not because the cookies were unhealthy. That’s not how I roll. It’s because they were fails…every.single.last.little.round.one.
I’m just thankful that Brandon’s not a picky eater. He’s been happily munching his way through them all while I sit back scratching my head trying to figure out how to make the texture more like cookies and less like cardboard.
But I decided to stop thinking about it and just make something that I know I can rely on. No standing by the oven with anxious anticipation. No peeking behind the door to get a glimpse at how it looks. No waiting for it to cool so I can see what defeat tastes like. Just me and my hands with a big ol’ head of kale and a few of my favorite toppings.
I’ve got a ton of kale salads on here but this is the first time I’ve made it with a mustard dressing. Which is probably because I have a love/hate relationship with mustard.
Brandon learned this the hard way during the first year we were dating. At the time I was very hungry {read: very angry} and he was kind enough to make the trip to Publix {way back in the Florida days!} and grab us a few veggie subs while I waited at home with my blood sugar steadily dropping. Then as soon as he got home, I rushed to unwrap mine and the scent of mustard hit me smack in the face. Y’all, I had a melt down. I’m talkin’ hair growing from my face, claws coming out, screams heard from two houses down. I was so mad that he didn’t remember that I don’t like mustard on my sandwich that I stormed out of the house in a fury and drove back to Publix and get myself a new sandwich. I’m sure it was all he could do not to break-up with me right then and there.
But now he won’t forget! I do NOT do mustard on my sandwich. :)
Except for this sandwich. That, I love. And I also love mustard in this salad dressing. It’s mixed it with shallot, apple cider vinegar, olive oil and a pinch of salt and even though it sounds really simple, it’s quite lovely. Simply lovely!
The toppings are also fairly simple. Especially if you cheat like I did and buy butternut squash that’s already peeled and cut. I blame it on the cookies.
The easy butternut squash is roasted and paired with pecans that are made my favorite way: toasted with just a little bit of oil, maple syrup and salt. Then everything is finished it off with dried cranberries (the same juice sweetened ones that I used in the granola) and crumbles of gorgonzola cheese. All of the flavors are so perfect together, I can barely stand it.
Unfortunately we’re not going home for the holidays this year but if we were, I would definitely be bringing this to dinner. I know it would be a hit!
Ingredients
2 cups cubed butternut squash
2 tablespoons high heat oil such as sunflower or canola
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 teaspoons maple syrup
salt & pepper
2 bundles kale, de-stemmed and chopped
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup gorgonzola or blue cheese crumbles
Apple Mustard Vinaigrette
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 large shallot
1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and then line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Toss the butternut squash in one and a half tablespoons of the high heat oil and then spread it onto the cookie sheet. Roast it in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until tender.
- Meanwhile wash the kale and remove the stems, then chop it into bite size pieces. Dry it thoroughly then place it in a large bowl and set aside.
- Prepare the dressing by adding all of the ingredients (peeled shallot, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, mustard and salt) to a food processor, blending until smooth. Add the dressing to the bowl with the kale and massage it in with your hands for about 15 seconds.
- Next, prepare the pecans by tossing them with the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of oil, 2 teaspoons of maple syrup and salt to taste. Lay them out on the parchment paper and toast in the oven for about 7 minutes. You can do this during the last 7 minutes of the cooking time for the squash.
- When the squash and the pecans are done, remove them from the oven allow to cool for a few minutes. Then add them to the bowl with the kale along with the cranberries and the cheese and toss together. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to one day.
Looks delicious! Pinned to make later. :-)
What is it with the epic fails with bloggers lately? I’ve been having TONS lately, and I’ve been reading lots of fail stories on blogs. There must be something in the air. And I’m sending big squeezes your way, cause cookie fails are the worst. Like let me just throw myself on the ground like a rag doll and punch the floor like a 2-year-old worst.
The mustard thing…I looooooathe the yella mustard…just can’t even deal. So I’ve had the exact same reaction in the past when someone put mayo or mustard on my sando. That’s just not food to me, nope. But I can dig the whole grain mustard now after many years of hating all things mustard related.
I’m so insanely attracted to this salad, I can barely stand it. I want it in meeee!
I love all the components of this salad, but I will have to try it on mixed greens. :) You know me and raw kale. I wish I liked chewing it more!
Funny about the mustard. My hubby doesn’t do mustard either, but I sure like it. Okay, I LOVE this salad. In fact, I’m emailing it to my Momma to make for me when I’m home in Florida. We’ll think of you! Thanks, Sarah!
i hate to hear you’ve been having fails in the kitchen but this salad is certainly a win! I love Dijon mustard dressings but I also love mustard (just not yellow or honey lol).
Good luck with cookies. I’m sure it’s just a tiny tweak you need to make and they will be perfection. Sometimes it’s fun to share your flops as well and ask for help analyzing the recipe?
The salad looks so pretty, Sarah! Haha, oh the things we do when we’re in a hangry state…
I am having the same phase too!! Lots of failed recipes and it’s holiday time and I don’t feel like working or trying recipes at all!! Help!! This salad saves the day!! Looks really delish!
So colorful and festive! It’s so funny, but I find myself craving salads more this time of year. Probably cause people are trying to shove cookies at me every 5 minutes haha. I’ll take something savory any day!
For the one who suffers chewing kale, I julienne chop my kale and other greens to make it easier to eat.
For the cookies, not knowing what your ingredients were, I would like to offer something I have been doing for years in my cookie doughs. That is for the shortening called for in the recipe to use half as butter (no shortening for me) and half neufchâtel cheese. I think the neufchâtel cheese gives it ungreasy body so the cookies do not melt all over into hard crispy puddles. They taste pretty good, too. Another secret is to put a tablespoon or so of nutritional yeast in my baked goods batches. The taste has a completeness to it.
Those sound like great tips! I like the idea to use the cheese- yum! Thanks, Jean! :)
What a delicious and healthy salad! I definitely will be making this salad in Christmas.. to hopefully beat the usual festive bloat!
This salad is just beautiful… and sounds delicious! I haven’t seen a lot of butternut squash in salads, but that’s perfect for “winter” and I would never think of it with kale. YUM!
P.S. Great seeing you on Saturday! I still can’t believe I actually got through it.
It was great to see you too! And I know; I was dying by the end! ;)
this looks amazing & I am obsessed with all of these ingredients. Totally making! :)
Sounds absolutely fantastic! I adore those flavours together, and your photography is just amazing!
Don’t even get me started on the failed cookie thing #totallyfeelyou. This salad though – looks so delish!!!
Woot! Yay for sandwich love! :) Thanks friend!
And I’m sorry about all the cookie fails … that’s one of the things I don’t love about baking (the anticipation of whether or not it actually worked!). But this salad sure looks like a great way to make up for it – it looks so so good! And I’ve also been cheating lately with the pre-cut squash … I blame it on the cookies as well :)
I feel you on the cookie fails, but at least we get this beautiful salad out of it! Hilarious story about the mustard – I feel the same way, it works on some things and doesn’t belong on others!
This is a very complete salad. Adding a bit of cheese on top makes it super yummy! I only recently “discovered” that I like butternut squash (I know I’m a bit late) and I’m now ready to add it to my salads. Great pictures, by the way.
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