Warm Winter Harvest Salad

Eating a balanced diet is an important part of staying healthy and one way to ensure that you're getting enough nutrients to include iron-rich ingredients in your meals. Fortunately, this salad recipe has all the makings of a delicious but nutritious meal. It combines kale and pepitas, both of which are high in iron, as well as vitamin C from orange juice, for maximum flavor and nutrition. Let's take a closer look at how to make this tasty and healthy salad! Salad ingredients:

• 1 roasted butternut squash
• 2 cups kale leaves
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup dried couscous
• 2 ounces goat cheese
• 1/4 cup pepitas or to taste

Dressing ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed orange juice
• Salt and pepper, to taste

How to make the salad:

1. Prepping the ingredients:

   1. Start by preheating your oven to 425 °F. While the oven is heating up, cut the butternut squash into cubes and spread them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle some olive oil over the top of the squash cubes and sprinkle them with salt; then roast them in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until they are tender.
   2. Next up are the pepitas - these are pumpkin seeds that have been hulled. You can buy them already hulled or you can remove their shells yourself if you prefer. Spread out the pepitas on another parchment-lined baking sheet and toast them in the oven for 10 minutes or until they are lightly golden brown in color. Meanwhile, cook 1 cup of couscous according to package instructions; set aside when done.

2. Assembling the salad:

3. Time to assemble your salad! Start by adding 2 cups of chopped kale leaves into a large bowl; add your dressing (recipe below) on top of the kale leaves and massage it into them until they soften up slightly (this step takes about 2 minutes).
4. Then add ½ cup dried cranberries, your roasted butternut squash cubes and 1 cup dried couscous into your bowl; mix everything together gently using tongs or two spoons until everything is evenly distributed throughout your salad mixture.
5. Finally, sprinkle ¼ cup roasted pepitas, ⅓ cup walnut pieces, and 2 ounces of crumbled goat cheese over your salad mixture; mix everything together one more time before serving your salad as-is or with some extra dressing drizzled on top (if desired).

How to make the dressing:

1. Whisk 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp freshly-squeezed orange juice until combined. Then, add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

This iron-rich salad recipe is an easy way to get more essential nutrients in your diet without sacrificing flavor! By combining these ingredients for maximum nutritional benefits (and flavor), this salad will keep you full for hours while also providing plenty of iron for energy throughout your day! So why not give it a try? You won't regret it!

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