I love the cold, crunchy peppery arugula topped with warm, soft butternut squash. The macadamia nuts add a really nice crunch and the feta…I mean…so good and I love the acid and slight bite from the lemon vinaigrette!

You guys aren’t over butternut squash are you? I mean, you’re not sick of it from the Fall…right? Because today I have a roasted squash arugula salad with lemon vinaigrette that I knooow will make you crave squash again.

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I was at QFC doing some grocery shopping and I saw a perfect butternut squash and it was only .99 cents! I’m a sucker for a deal, so I started thinking of recipes I could make with butternut squash.

Soup? Ehh. I just made crockpot jalapeno popper white chicken chili, so maybe not soup.

Risotto? Mmm. As much as I really wanted carby, creamy goodness, I needed to make something healthy.

So then I thought…salad! Let’s roast the squash then place it on top of arugula, because it’s my all time favorite green thing, and then add some feta, because why not, oooh and then let’s add something crunchy, like hazelnuts for texture! Then I couldn’t find the hazelnuts, maybe if Trevor was with me, the hazelnuts would appear (like how my cheesecake pan magically appeared), but alas, he was at work, so no hazelnuts. I landed on macadamia nuts, because I thought those would taste great toasted.

Then.

To top it all off, I thought I could smother it in a lemony garlic vinaigrette, when I realized that I was standing in the middle of the grocery store with my mouth wide open and drool on my chin. I quickly snapped out of it and got the above ingredients to make a roasted squash arugula salad with lemon vinaigrette.

I feel a teeny bit embarrassed that I’m calling this roasted squash arugula salad with lemon vinaigrette a recipe, because I literally just threw a bunch of things together and hoped for the best. Luckily for me, and for you, if this sounds good to you, it totally worked!

First, I peeled and cubed my butternut squash into bite sized pieces. I then preheated an oven to 400 degrees F, and tossed the butternut squash in olive oil and salt. I roasted these for about 20 minutes on an unlined baking pan, stirring halfway through.

While the squash is roasting, toast your macadamia nuts. Heat a skillet (not non stick) over medium heat. Once hot, pour in macadamia nuts. Move them around constantly with a spatula or spoon until they’re lightly toasted and fragrant. This should take less than 5 minutes.

Once the butternut squash is roasty and the macadamia nuts are toasty, put together the vinaigrette.

Combine lemon juice, dijon mustard, and pressed garlic (I always use this garlic press for dressings, because nobody wants to bite into big chunk of garlic) together in a small bowl. Whisk to combine. Keep whisking while you pour in olive oil. Once the oil has fully incorporated, taste and season with salt and pepper.

Now put your salad together. There’s really no rhyme or reason on how much of each ingredient you should use in this roasted squash arugula salad with lemon vinaigrette. Just go for it! Use however much you like. Place arugula on a plate or bowl and top with the roasted butternut squash, toasted macadamia nuts, crumbled feta cheese, and then smother the whole thing in the lemon vinaigrette. Serve immediately and be thoroughly satisfied.

I love the cold, crunchy peppery arugula topped with warm, soft butternut squash. The macadamia nuts add a really nice crunch and the feta…I mean…do I really need to convince you why you should use feta (although goat cheese would be awesome, too) and I love the acid and slight bite from the lemon vinaigrette.