BLUEBERRY SALAD WITH ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND CHICKEN STRIPS
This spring and summer, I’m becoming much more creative in my salad making skills. Adding berries, nuts and other fresh ingredients enhances the flavors, textures of your salad . One of the best things about salads is that they can be very versatile and creative, find a few ingredients that you have on hand that mesh well and drizzle with a simple vinaigrette dressing and you have tasty side salad. Add some grilled meat such as chicken or steak and you have a complete meal.
Blueberry season just started therefore this week is all things BLUEBERRY! I’ve already made a big blueberry pie and a few days ago I made a Blueberry Dinner Salad.
I added grilled chicken and roasted butternut squash to make it a complete dinner, but you can omit the chicken and squash if you want to keep it as a simple but delicious side salad. The kicker was the creamy sheep’s milk feta cheese that I found at Trader Joe’s and it was the ingredient that COMPLETED the salad, oh so yummy! This is my favorite feta cheese that I’ve found anywhere. The brand name is: “Pastures of Eden.” (This isn’t a sponsorship, just love to share my favorite foodie finds)
The first time I ate this salad, I just added my homemade ranch dressing and it was ok but not great. Next I made the balsamic vinaigrette dressing that I use for my spinach strawberry pecan salad and the flavors of this dressing went perfectly with the blueberry salad.
I also have plans to make some vegan blueberry popsicles for the fourth of July, so watch for that recipe coming up on a future blog in the very near future. As always THANKS for stopping by: CHEERS TO A HAPPY & HEALTHY DAY!
BLUEBERRY SALAD WITH ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND CHICKEN STRIPS
Ingredients
- INGREDIENTS FOR SALAD
- 10 OZ Mixed Greens
- 1 Small Red Onion Sliced
- 4 OZ Feta Cheese
- 1 1/2 Cups Fresh Blueberries
- 1/2 Cup Pecans
- INGREDIENTS FOR DRESSING
- 1/4 Cup olive oil
- 1 TBSP Balsamic Vinegar
- 1 tsp Honey
- Salt & Black Pepper To taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Chop and peel the butternut squash. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Roast for 45 minutes or unit inside is soft and outside is slightly crispy.
- While the Butternut squash is roasting make the salad, dressing and chicken. Rinse lettuce, dry in salad spinner and place in a large bowl. Slice red onions, chop feta cheese into small pieces and add to greens. Add the rest of the ingredients: blueberries, pecans and mix.
- Place all salad dressing ingredients in a high speed blender, blend until well combined.
- Once the butternut squash is almost done, make the chicken. To make it easier buy chicken strips. Spice it up with salt and black pepper, smoked paprika, and garlic powder. Add small amount of oil to cast iron pan or any other frying pan. Cook on medium heat till chicken is cooked through.
- To arrange, place salad on a salad plate, place chicken on one side and butternut squash on the other side. Drizzle salad with the dressing. I also like to drizzle a spicy, smokey barbecue sauce onto the squash.
- In this picture I used my homemade ranch dressing, but after trying the balsamic vinegar dressing I actually preferred the latter with this salad.
