Summer is over but my salad bowl is still full! I’m a big fan of the big a– salad trend. Just a plate piled high with greens, veggies, berries, nuts and frankly anything else you want – it’s an entree that never disappoints. I always finish feeling full, satisfied, and not weighed down.
With Autumn as my muse, and my refrigerator quickly filling with the early seasonal produce, I crafted an entirely new entree salad. And it’s gooooood.
“How is this even real?” was our photographer’s reaction upon tasting hers. And then she proceeded to demolish the rest of the food props.
Our Harvest Chopped Salad is like a farmers market truck unloaded in your kitchen. And then it rained down this homemade vinaigrette and what bloomed was just the best darn thing you’ve eaten in a while!
With red beets, carrots, quinoa, and ginger, this salad is not only hearty and satiating, but it’s also a great way to get your food experimentation on. If it’s been a while since you’ve tried some of these ingredients, or presents the first time, get after it! All of the complementary flavors blend perfectly together and it’s so darn pretty you won’t have any choice but to want to eat it.
The beets are very nutritionally dense, providing a host of vitamins and minerals as well as naturally cleansing and detoxing the liver. Plus, so pretty! This vegetarian/vegan salad needed protein, so we provide that with the quinoa. One cup of this grain-like seed offers 24 grams of protein! That means it’s got serious staying power. We also add crunch with walnuts, and score another 12 grams of plant-based protein.
More in-season crunch, color, and flavor is added with carrots, apples, and pears. What doesn’t this salad have? Because seriously it’s crisp, sweet, hearty, and satisfying.
Oh yes. The dressing. And oh man, did I find the perfect way to toss this mess together.
Ginger. Orange. More orange. Honey. Whisk it all together with white wine vinegar and olive oil and it’s truly a delight!
You get you share of a fourth of this entree salad for under 600 calories, and that brings with it 8 grams of protein! 9 grams of fiber! And a mere 117 milligrams sodium!
If you’re not already chopping, grating, and whisking this salad together, we suggest you get on that. Fall won’t last for ever and this salad won’t eat itself.
Harvest Tossed Salad
serves 4
1 medium red beet, peeled and grated
4 carrots, peeled and grated
1 cup cooked quinoa
4 ounces halved walnuts
1 Granny Smith apple, cored and thinly sliced
1 pear, cored and thinly sliced
4 cups fresh greens (your choice of kale, spring greens, spinach, or other)
1. Toss it all together with the vinaigrette and serve.
Orange Ginger Vinaigrette
2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 orange zested, 2 Tbsp. fresh juice
1 tsp. fresh ginger
1/2 Tbsp. honey
pinch Kosher salt.
1. Whisk it all together!
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Recipe by Brandi Koskie; Photos by Kacy Meinecke