Dried Cherries | Barr & Table

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I am an absolute squash fiend; winter squash in particular. Butternut squash is currently my favorite, but I’ve recently found out about so many more kinds to try! Over the weekend I finally got my hands on delicata. I’d say in terms of flavor, it compares to acorn squash, but it’s so much easier to prepare which instantly wins me over. Not to mention you can eat the skin which also makes it great for salads.

I don’t know about you, but during this time of year, along with some fun new desserts, I’m always looking for an equally fun and tasty salad to bring to holiday gatherings. And nine times out of ten, mine include squash!

Roasted Squash & Chick Pea Baby Kale Salad with Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette

Serves 4-6

Ingredients
6 cups baby kale greens
1/3 cup raisins, craisins, or dried cherries
1 medium delicata squash; sliced
1 can chick peas; drained, rinsed, & thoroughly dried
3 tsp coconut oil; divided
3/4 tsp salt; divided
3/4 tsp ground black pepper; divided
1 tsp McCormick Fiesta Citrus Seasoning

For the Vinaigrette
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Place sliced squash on one baking sheet and coat with 2 tsp coconut oil, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp black pepper. Place chick peas on another baking sheet with the remaining 1 tsp coconut oil, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 black pepper, and 1 tsp fiesta citrus seasoning. Bake squash and chick peas for about an hour, flipping the squash 1 or 2 times and tossing the chick peas around. When finished, the squash should be golden around the edges and the chick peas should be nice and crunchy! Let cool completely.

While the squash and chick peas are cooling, place all of the vinaigrette ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. After everything has cooled, throw kale, squash, chick peas, and raisins (or other dried fruit) in a large bowl and toss with about 3/4 of the vinaigrette. Make sure everything is equally coated. Drizzle the last bit of dressing over top of the salad and top with a little freshly cracked black pepper. Serve immediately.

To make it into a more substantial meal, throw 4oz of your favorite protein on top!

Nutritional Information
Per serving, for 4 servings

218 Calories / 6g Fat / 35g Carbs / 8g Fiber / 12g Sugar / 8g Protein

Food for Thought

What is your favorite holiday salad to share?

Holy moly, it’s been too long since my last post! Between crazy projects at work and the Orioles games (so sad!), last week was insane and I missed my blog so much. In the meantime, I’ve taken on a new business venture. It was kind of an accident, but there are no complaints here!

There are only so many times I could hear “If I pay you, will you make my lunches?” until I respond, “No. Really. I will!”

And that’s how Barr Bites was born.

Last week, I made one of my coworkers 3 lunches for the week:

Holiday Kale Salad
Red Pepper Salmon Pasta
Salmon Tacos with Avocado Pineapple Coleslaw

I adjusted the recipes to her likes and dislikes and was pleased to have gotten rave reviews and a request for more meals this week! This is huge coming from a picky pregnant lady 😉

And even more exciting, not only did she request meals for this week, but word spread and I ended up with 3 additional coworkers asking for meals! Nathan loves it too.. he is definitely enjoying reaping all of the benefits of having 1 or 2 extra servings of each dish in the house!

But I’d have to say my favorite part of the entire process, besides making everyone so happy, is getting to test out new recipes. I recently posted a Weekender Top 5; my list of recipes that I wanted to test out over the weekend, but it doesn’t always work out since Nathan and I can only eat so much! By making food for other people, I get to try out even more recipes that I’ve been oogling.

This week’s menu is another fun mix: