I really enjoy a good salad. Meat is an easy way to bulk up a salad, but another trick is adding roasted butternut squash as a topping. It adds a nice sweetness to your salad, as well as some beautiful colour and perhaps more importantly, another way to squeeze in an extra serving of vegetables.

In September, I blogged about this great Spiced Butternut Squash, Lentil, and Goat Cheese Salad, but here is another squash-heavy salad to add to your repertoire. This Roasted Squash Salad with Maple Vinaigrette includes cheese and nuts, some of my other favourite toppings to make a hearty salad so you aren’t starving an hour later. The salad makes enough for 4 lunches at $1.31 per serving.

Roasted Squash Salad with Maple Vinaigrette, adapted from Health Magazine, November 2009
1/4 cup chopped, skinned hazelnuts
olive oil cooking spray
1 large butternut squash, seeded, peeled, and cut into cubes
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, grated
6 cups mixed greens
1/4 cup shaved Parmesan cheese
salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray a large baking sheet with olive oil spray and place the squash on the sheet, cut sides down. Cover the squash with foil, and roast them until they are tender, around 20 minutes.

While the squash is roasting, place the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan and toast them over a medium heat until they are fragrant, around 5 minutes.

To make the dressing, whisk together the maple sugar, vinegar, grated garlic, and mustard until it is well blended. You can doctor the dressing until it gets just to your liking. Toss the greens with the dressing, and season with salt and pepper. Place the roasted squash on top of the greens, and garnish the dish with the toasted hazelnuts and shredded Parmesan.