Kale, Quinoa and Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

Hello my friends! After a long almost 3 week break I am back to regular blog postings. I decided to take the full three weeks off because I just really wanted to enjoy the time with my family and the Holiday season. I might have enjoyed the season a little too much... my tummy is for sure not impressed with my eating habits the last few weeks. I enjoyed every last bite, but I know I will be making up for my indulgences over the next few weeks. 

To start off the new year, and a new year of recipes and other blog posts, I decided a really nice healthy salad would be perfect! Every year on Boxing Day I make a big meal for my family and extended family. I like this tradition because it is a day that I can return the favour of all the good cooked food I get to eat from my family during the week. This year I made pork tenderloin and I made a salad that turned out lovely. So I decided to add to that and make it a whole meal!

Kale, Quinoa and Roasted Sweet Potato Salad 

Ingredients:

​1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch cubes
3 cups of cooked quinoa
1 bunch of kale, washed and thinly sliced
3 cooked chicken breasts, sliced thinly
1/2 cup of thinly sliced red onion
2/3 cup of crumbled feta cheese
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 cup of dried cranberries
1/2 cup of pecan pieces
Raspberry balsamic vinaigrette

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl add the diced sweet potatoes and toss in olive oil to evenly coat the pieces. Place on parchment lined baking sheet and bake until the sweet potatoes are slightly brown on the outside and soft on the inside. It took my oven 50 minutes to cook. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

In a large bowl add all the ingredients, mix together. Add the dressing a bit at a time, or until your desired amount, and toss the salad to evenly coat with the dressing. 

Serve right away, or portion it out for a healthy lunch during the week.

Kale, Quinoa and Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

As you can tell this is actually a pretty easy salad to throw together. If you cook the quinoa while the sweet potatoes are cooking, just allow it to cool completely before adding it to the salad. What I like to do is cook it the night before and place it in the fridge, that way it is all ready to go for the next day. 

If you look at the ingredients you will also probably noticed I say "thinly sliced" for pretty much everything... I just find having things thinly sliced helps it to mix better together. I like to have a little bite of everything on each fork. So this salad fulfills that for me. Every fork full has some of everything and I love the combination of sweet, crunchy, savory, tart and earthy. 

Here's to getting back to normal routine and to the start of an amazing New Year!

Happy Monday!