The Most Perfect Fall Salad EVER: Roasted Butternut Squash and Arugula with Tahini Dressing

I think this might be the BEST salad I have EVER made. I made it an hour ago and made every person in my family try a bite. I still can't stop thinking about it. These ingredients are MEANT to be together. I made extra dressing so I can make the salad again for lunch tomorrow. It's a hearty salad with super healthy ingredients so you feel nutritionalized (I just made that word up), satiated, and all warm and delicious inside. Not sure if that made sense, but I really cannot describe how incredible this salad is...

The original recipe is from Redbook Magazine, but I tweaked it a bit to make it lower in fat/calories and sugar. I also added Roasted Sausage-Less Sausage to add more protein :)

Salad:

1 Butternut Squash, peeled, halved, seeded, and cut into 1-inch chunks (Mine came out to about 3 1/2 to 4 cups)
1 1/2 t olive oil
1/4-1/2 t paprika
1/2 t salt
Less than 1/4 t black pepper
3 T pumpkin seeds
8 cups baby arugula
1/3 cup coarsely chopped parsley
1/4 cup raisins
4 oz fat free feta crumbles
Trader Joe's Sausage-less Sausage (optional)

Dressing:

2 T plain Greek Yogurt
2 T Tahini
1 T lemon Juice
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/4 t salt

1. Heat oven to 375 F.
2. Salad: In a large bowel, toss squash, oil, paprika, salt, pepper. Spread out evenly on a sprayed baking dish. Roast about 25 minutes, stirring halfway through under squash is tender. Sprinkle squash with the pumpkin seeds for the last 5 minutes of roasting. If using the sausage-less sausage, roast in the oven during the last 10-12 minutes of the squash cooking.
3. Dressing: Whisk together all of the ingredients. Whisk in 2 T boiling water.
4. In a bowl, gently toss squash, arugula, parsley, raisins, feta and sausage-less sausage (if using). Drizzle dressing over salad and EAT!!

I made enough of the squash and salad for 4 servings, but only mixed 1 serving worth of salad with the dressing since it was only me eating. I will make the salad again and toss with the dressing when I'm ready to eat it so its not soggy. SO DELISH :)

Current Salad Obsession

I've been switching up my typical lunch of a protein "panini" and zucchini noodles with an absolutely delicious, easy, healthy, hearty, salad. So I wanted to share :). There's no oil in my salad dressing- it doesn't need any!! And since there isn't, it allows me to throw in a little more avocado than I normally would when there's other sources of fat in my meal :)!

Mixed Greens with Avocado, Feta, and Lemon Garlic Dressing

Ingredients:

1 garlic clove chopped
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Mix these three together at the bottom of the bowl you'll be making your salad in (I use a BIG one). That's it- dressing DONE! Now the salad:

2 cups mixed greens with herbs (I use an organic brand from Whole Foods
1/4 avocado, cubed
2 T corn
5 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cucumber, sliced
3 T fat free feta
1/2 t oregano
Cooked shrimp (I've also used steamed lobster and baked tofu!)

So, Add the lettuce to the bowl and toss it around a little. Add the rest of the ingredients and EAT!

NOTE: I keep a bag of frozen corn in the freezer, nuke what I need in the microwave or just let it defrost on a plate while I prepare the rest of the salad.

Also, you can also throw a few sliced black olives in there which would be tasty.

Here's my salad with shrimp:

Salt and pepper to taste

Here's my salad with Baked Tofu: