Healthy Fall Salad

It’s finally really fall here! My food cravings get richer and earthier again and of course all kinds of pumpkin and squash make it to my plate. And because it doesn’t always have to be soup or stew, let’s celebrate fall with a Healthy Fall Salad with Creamy Tahini Dressing.

Let’s talk recipe development for a bit.

Some bloggers out there are recipe creating machines! I honestly don’t know how they do that! I am always stumped by how people can come up with more than one recipe post a week. Creativity would be my first issue. The second one would actually be time. As you might know I am working full-time and now have a 1 hour commute one way. Additionally I have a dissertation to finish, a husband who sometimes wants my attention, an apartment to take care of and also kind of a social life. If it wasn’t for home office days I think I wouldn’t be able to keep everything up.

As I arranged this Healthy Fall Salad with Creamy Tahini Dressing for its shoot I thought about how many steps and how much time it took to get this recipe online. So I decided it would be fun to mix things up a little and take you on the ride from the idea to the published recipe post.

Ingredients
Ingredients for the Salad

1 medium butternut squash
1 T bellpepper powder
2 T vegetable oil
salt and pepper
1/2 cup dry red quinoa
6 fresh figs
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 handful of rocket

Ingredients for the Dressing

3 T tahini
1/2 cup water
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp bell pepper powder
1/2 tso cumin
juice of 1/2 lemon

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 395°F (200°C)
Cut the butternut squash in cubes and place it on a lined baking tray. Add the oil, bell pepper powder, salt and pepper. Roughly mix the cubes with your hands until everything is covered in oil and spices. Bake in the oven for about 30 min or until soft. Flip them over after 15 min.
Cook the quinoa according to the instructions on the box. Set aside and allow to cool.
Wash the rocket and cut into desired size
Cut the figs into desired size
Give all the ingredients for the dressing into a blender and mix until smooth and creamy. Add a bit little bit more water and blend again to reach a more liquid consistency. This might be necessary depending on the kind of tahini you use.
Give all the ingredients into a big bowl and add the dressing

Notes
Keep the salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two days