Roasted Squash Salad with Bacon and Pumpkin Seeds

Buttery squash, crunchy pumpkin seeds, and smoky bacon make this a fall salad you'll want to enjoy often. Serve with pork chops.

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 4  cups  (1/2-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash (about 1 pound)
• Cooking spray
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt, divided
• 1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper, divided
• 2  tablespoons  sherry vinegar
• 1  teaspoon  Dijon mustard
• 1  bacon slice
• 1  medium shallot, minced
• 10  cup  gourmet salad greens (about 10 ounces)
• 3  tablespoons  unsalted pumpkinseed kernels, toasted

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°.

Arrange squash in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Coat squash with cooking spray; sprinkle evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Bake at 400° for 30 minutes or until squash is tender and lightly browned, stirring after 15 minutes. Remove from heat; keep warm.

Combine remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, vinegar, and mustard.

Cook bacon in a small nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 1 teaspoon drippings in pan. Crumble bacon; set aside. Add shallot to drippings in pan; sauté 1 minute. Add shallot and bacon to vinegar mixture, stirring with a whisk.

Place salad greens in a large bowl. Drizzle vinegar mixture over greens; toss gently to coat. Arrange about 1 1/3 cups salad on each of 6 plates. Top each serving with 2/3 cup squash and 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkinseed kernels.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

130 (25% from fat)

Fat:

3.6g (sat 0.9g,mono 0.9g,poly 1.2g)

Protein:

4.8g

Carbohydrate:

23.8g

Fiber:

5.5g

Cholesterol:

2mg

Iron:

3.2mg

Sodium:

275mg

Calcium:

134mg