This winter holiday salad follows the rule of rainbow nutrition (vary your colors to vary your nutrients) with bright orange squash, dark green spinach and red-purple cranberries. The combination features potassium and a variety of antioxidants, including caroteniods for a healthy immune system, bioflavonoid (vitamin B’s) for guarding against certain cancers and vitamin C for overall healthy cell function. Try alternative dressing flavors with acai, pomegranate or blueberry juice with or instead of cranberry juice. What could be a better way to treat your family and friends to a healthy holiday table?

Ingredients
4 cups fresh spinach, washed and broken
2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into cubes
2 tablespoons Red onion or shallots, chopped fine
1 teaspoon olive oil
¼ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup roasted almonds, sliced (optional)

Dressing:
¼ cup cranberry juice
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon maple syrup or agave syrup
Salt, fresh ground pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Toss squash cubes with olive oil and chopped onion and scatter on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until tender, but not too soft.
2. Combine dressing ingredients and stir well. Drizzle part of the dressing over spinach leaves and toss.
3. Arrange on a plate and top with the baked squash and dried cranberries. Drizzle the remaining dressing over all. Sprinkle almonds (optional) and serve.

Number of Cups: 6
Calories/Cup: 96
Vegetable Servings: 6
Fruit Servings: 1

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Source: The Healthy Table

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 5:20 pm and is filed under Recipe Buzz, Thanksgiving. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.