My Thanksgiving Salad Recipe

You guys... How is it December first?! This year has flown by like crazy. I'm excited that in just about two and a half weeks I'll be all done with exams and en route home for a month of winter break, my annual cookie exchange with friends, and lots of relaxation. For now, it's another weekend away from school for me! I'm leaving this evening for Long Island where I'll be staying at my aunt's house tonight before we make our way to Rhode Island for the weekend to celebrate my Gramma's birthday. I'm so excited to see my aunts, my grandma, and a few of my cousins on my dad's side of the family this weekend because we missed them at our Thanksgiving and I'm spending Christmas with my mom.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I made a delicious salad for our dinner that I really couldn't have enjoyed more! I am not always the biggest salad person, but this baby could've been a meal on it's own because I couldn't stop eating it! I shared the recipe on Snapchat (@ franacciardo) last Thursday as I was making it and it turned out so, so delicious. Like, I seriously want to make it all the time once I get home and I can cook again! I originally planned to follow a recipe, but when you get to Whole Foods the day before the holiday and they're all out of Brussels sprouts, ya just gotta improvise, ya know?

Anyways, this salad is incredible easy, healthy, and delicious. Triple threat; win, win, win! I loved tossing together a bunch of random autumn ingredients and witnessing the magic happen.

What you'll need...

1 large bunch of lacinato kale, chopped into bites

Butternut squash, cubed and cooked

Pumpkin seeds

Pomegranate seeds

Feta cheese crumbles

Dried cranberries

Dressing of choice! I used Cindy's Kitchen Roasted Garlic and Rosemary Vinaigrette

What to do...

I hoped up my kale into bite sized pieces and did the same with our squash. I only used about half the squash and that worked out to be enough, but I do love squash and wouldn't have minded using more!

Tip on cooking the squash: Once you've cut the squash into bites, toss in a pot with water and bring to a boil. Once at a boil, reduce to a simmer and remove the squash once you feel that the bites are soft/tender/basically: cooked.

Toss all ingredients in a large bowl, using as much or as little of each as you'd like. Finally, drizzle on a little dressing and toss again. I really didn't use a ton of dressing because the cheese, pomegranate seeds, and squash all already have some moisture and I didn't want the garlic in the dressing to overpower any of the natural flavors.