Happy Meatless Monday everyone! Hope you all had lovely weekends and were able to stay warm and dry no matter what you were up to! I wasn’t feeling the best, so in between catchups with friends I had a lot of down time, watching the footy and pottering around at home. No matter how I’m feeling I always enjoy some time in the kitchen, particularly when it involves pumpkin!
This salad is the perfect winter meal if you’re looking for something full of wintery flavours but without the heaviness that lots of winter food seem to go hand in hand with. It’s a great salad to whip up on a Sunday afternoon as there’s very little prep needed and you can get other things done while waiting for the pumpkin to cook. I’m a big fan of anything that lets me multitask!
It’s best eaten warm but does reheat well, so works particularly well as a work lunch, just keep the dressing to the side and pour on a little each day as you eat it. Easy-peasy!
Ingredients List
- Half a butternut pumpkin
- Coconut oil
- 2 cups quinoa
- Juice of a lemon
- 1tbs honey
- 1tbs olive oil
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup baby spinach
- 1/2 cup slithered almonds
Steps
- Preheat oven to 180C
- Peel and dice the pumpkin, drizzle with some coconut oil and roast for 25 minutes, until just cooked through
- Meanwhile, cook the quinoa then set aside
- In a small bowl whisk together lemon juice, honey and olive oil and set aside
- When pumpkin is cooked combine pumpkin, quinoa, cranberries, spinach and almonds on a serving dish and toss to combine
- Drizzle with the dressing then serve
- Enjoy!
Pumpkin is by far one of my favourite Autumn/Winter vegetables, and it’s nice to eat it in something that isn’t a soup or stew for a change! Plus, as always, I love the colours of the salad, the orange of the pumpkin and the deep red of the cranberries are perfect winter hues!
What’s your favourite way to use pumpkin?
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I Spy Plum Pie is Liz, an early 30s kiwi-born, Melbourne raised girl who is passionate about the environment and sustainability, food, exploring and learning new things. Join me on my journey to a happy, sustainable life!
Ingrid
July 8, 2014 at 12:03 am (10 years ago)This post makes me want to weep (in a good way). Looks incredibly delicious and I miss quinoa and pumpkin so much. I haven’t found quinoa yet in Norway so the search remains. Think I have to go to a health store or something like that.
Keep up the good work honey, your recipes always make me hungry x
Ingrid recently posted…My Sunday at the Cabin
I Spy Plum Pie (admin)
July 9, 2014 at 1:53 pm (10 years ago)I saw on instagram that you found some quinoa, yay! Thanks for your sweet words too lady xx