Salad of the Season: Fall Harvest Salad 2.0

If you've been around here for awhile, you may recall the Fall Harvest Salad that I came up with last year. I still make it quite a bit, but I wanted to switch things up. For this salad, I combined ingredients that you can find throughout the fall, but also make all year round. I started with some baby kale leaves and added in crunchy pumpkin seeds that I roasted the day before, roasted butternut squash, creamy goat cheese and crisp granny smith apple. I made a simple apple cider and mustard dressing , oh my goodness! This has become the fall salad of my dreams. I think I may make this to go along with our Thanksgiving dinner.

Ingredients: (Serves 2)

- 1 package of baby kale

- Pumpkin seeds (you can use any nut of choice)

- Roasted butternut squash* (you better believe I buy this already cut up)

- 4 oz of crumbled goat cheese

- 1 granny smith apple cored and cut into cubes

For the Dressing:

- 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

- 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard

- 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil

- sea salt + freshly cracked black pepper

Combine all of the salad ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a separate small mixing bowl, whisk the apple cider vinegar, mustard and salt + pepper. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until completely emulsified. Combine the salad and dressing together. I like to do this about ten minutes before eating, so that the baby kale can soak up the dressing.

* Roasting the butternut squash: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, place the butternut squash on the pan and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and fresh thyme. Roast for about 25 minutes.