Autumn Salads

This post is dedicated to autumn salads!

The first is a warm salad; very simple to compose.  

 First, I used the cinnamon glazed roasted garbanzo beans from this post, and I combined them with roasted butternut squash.

 To roast the butternut squash, you can buy a butternut squash still in tact, or a pre-cut one like I did.  Cut the squash into uniform sized pieces, and then you can toss in a bowl with canola oil, or coconut oil, and salt if you like, and spread out onto a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick spray.

Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until the squash is soft.  You can see in the above photo my squash and garbanzos were sharing the oven shelf.

Put the two together, and you've created something amazing.  Feel free to sprinkle with more cinnamon.

The next salad is a slightly different version of one I've made before.  This one included...

-Kale
-Shredded carrots
-Honey Crisp apple
-Dried figs
-Chopped pecans
-Cinnamon glazed roasted garbanzo beans (I use these with everything)
-Balsamic vinegar
-Agave
 -Drizzle of Trader Joe's Feta salad dressing

Now that is a scrumptious salad.  Kale is rich in nutrients, but it's a little bitter to eat raw, so drizzling it with agave or honey is a great option.  You can also steam it before hand.

The third salad is one created by my mom.  She is known for making really impressive "side" salads at dinner that you feel like could be found as a main course salad at a restaurant.  And she just throws them together with no thought.

 Mom's Rand-o Salad 
-Romaine
-Kale
-Baby spinach
-Those.. baby orange things.. what are they called?
-Shredded beats
-Slivered almonds
-Poppy seed dressing

The best part about this salad was the beets.  They naturally stain the salad a beautiful dark pink color when you mix it all up, making it even prettier.

And before I close, I want to show what my sister Jessie brought me home from her trip to Asheville, NC.

A cute little jar of homemade pumpkin butter!  I have been using it in my pumpkin oatmeal.  Love it.