This is one of my FAVORITE salads to bring to a holiday at someone’s home. I thought it would be cool to make a salad with “sweet potato croutons”. Instead of the high carb, bread derived croutons that we’re accustomed to, I wanted to make a really delicious, sweet and savory version of my own.

This salad is the REAL deal. It has cheese, potatoes, sweet candied nuts and crisp pears. It could be served as an appetizer or if you’d prefer, you can add protein to it and make it a meal.

Have some over-ripe bananas? Here’s the perfect recipe to try. I experimented with this recipe alot before posting it and I finally found a really nice combination of ingredients that made this guilt-free enough to share with clients without sacrificing taste.

The oats and the wheat bran  in this recipe bulk the bread up and make it perfect for a slight sweet breakfast (paired with protein, of course!) as well as an after dinner treat.

Keep in mind that as bananas ripen, they emit ethylene gas which can start to give the bread a funky taste after a few days. If you’re not sharing this with friends or family, my solution is to cut my bread into individual slices, wrap them in tin foil and freeze everything them. That way, I can unfreeze an individual slice the day that I want to eat it. I love doing this because it’s always nice to have something sweet on hand when I need a little something!

Fall Harvest Salad

Serves: 12

Ingredients:

Salad:

• 3 Romaine Hearts, Chopped

• 1 Cup Carrots, Shredded

• 2 Pears, Sliced

• 3 oz Chopped candied pecans

• 3 oz Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese

• 3 medium Sweet Potatoes (Roasted Sweet Potato Cubes– See below for instructions)

• 1 tbsp

• 8 oz Reduced Sugar Ocean Spray Craisins

Dressing:

• 1/4 cup Good Balsamic Vinegar (my favorite is Ariston– I refuse to buy any other brand now)

• 1/4 cup Champagne Vinegar

• 2 tbsp Olive Oil

• Dash of Salt, Pepper, Oregano

Directions:

1. Prepare sweet potato cubes by preheating the oven to 350 F and washing/peeling 3 medium sweet potatoes. Cut sweet potatoes into 1/2″ cubes and place on a baking sheet. Coat in 1 tbsp olive oil and season with kosher salt, black pepper, onion and garlic powder and cumin. Bake in oven ~45 minutes or until sweet potatoes are fully roasted.

2. Toss the rest of the ingredients in a large salad bowl.

3. Prepare the salad dressing in a container (a mason jar works great). Combine all ingredients and shake!

4. When sweet potatoes are ready, allow them to cool before tossing them in with the salad.

5. Dress salad right before serving or serve the dressing on the side and allow guests to dress salad themselves.

Nutrition Facts (per 1 serving): 200 Calories, 10 g Fat, 28 g Carbohydrate, 8 g Fiber, 3 g Protein