Roasted Vegetable Salad

Roasted Vegetable Salad - An entrée salad featuring roasted sweet potatoes, red onions, sunflower seeds, apples and goat cheese over baby arugula.

Wow, it's 2015!  I'm not much on making resolutions but it is a good time of year to think about some things that I want to change.  The first thing I did on New Year's Day was renew my membership to Kindle Unlimited on Amazon.  I used to have my face in a book all the time.  Over the past year I have been neglecting this.  I have made a conscious decision to read more, especially now that I got a new Kindle Fire HDX 7 over the holidays.  What better reason, right?

Of course, as cliché as it is, I really want to eat a bit healthier.  Sometimes, I get caught up in making something so decadently delicious for you guys, I forget that we shouldn't be eating that way every day.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not giving up cheese or anything ridiculous like that, but I think some small changes would do my family good.  I think if we eat salad, as the entrée, once a week, that's a reasonable change, don't you think?

To get things started I prepared this Roasted Vegetable Salad.  I added some grilled chicken because I wasn't sure I could get the husband on board without it.  When you prepare it you can either leave it out or add it in, whatever you prefer.

I usually have some pre-cooked chicken hanging around, but I didn't this day.  All I did was take two thin chicken cutlets, season them with salt, pepper and Italian seasonings and cook them on my grill pan.

As with most of my recipes, feel free to switch up the vegetables.  Sweet potatoes just happened to catch my eye at the grocery store and they're filling, so I thought them to be a good choice.  Feel free to use parsnips, carrots, or whatever your favorite roasted veggie is.

I also set out to use toasted pine nuts on this salad, but when I got to the store, pine nuts were $10 for a tiny little packet and sunflower seeds were $2.99 for a big container, so sunflower seeds won that battle.  They worked really well and I'm glad I didn't splurge on the pine nuts.  Again, if you want to spend the money on pine nuts, go for it. I'd rather spend the money on a good brand of cheese.

Do you make resolutions?  Do you tend to stick with them?  What are your resolutions for 2015?

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Roasted Vegetable Salad

Christine

5 from 2 votes

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Ingredients

  

• 2 sweet potatoes sliced in half moons
• 1 red onion roughly chopped
• 2 T olive oil
• ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
• ½ teaspoon salt kosher
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
• 6 oz baby arugula
• 1 granny smith apple cut into thin half moons
• ¼ C sunflower seeds
• 1-2 oz Goat cheese
• Optional: 1-2 C pre grilled chicken cut into bite sized pieces

Balsamic Dressing

• 3 T balsamic vinegar
• 1 T honey
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
• ⅓ C olive oil

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 400.
• Toss sweet potato and red onion with the oil, salt, pepper and Italian seasonings. Arrange on a nonstick baking sheet. Roast the veggies 20 minutes, turn over and roast an addition 10-20 minutes until everything is nicely browned.
• In a salad bowl or on a platter, arrange the Arugula on the bottom and top with roasted veggies, apple slices, sunflower seeds and goat cheese (and chicken if you are using.
• Drizzle with balsamic mixture or your favorite vinaigrette just before serving.

Balsamic Dressing

• Whisk together vinegar, honey and seasonings. While constantly whisking, drizzle in the olive oil.

Notes

Adapted from Roasted Root Vegetable Salad

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