Roasted Sweet Potato Autumn Salad

It’s the season of giving thanks and I have much to be grateful for.  Good health, wonderful family and friend relationships, meaningful work and play.  Life is full and rewarding.  What are you grateful for?  Time with family becomes even more precious as we age.  For Thanksgiving this year my husband and I will be with three of our five kids along with a few of my siblings and their families.  A small group by our standards, but nonetheless meaningful.  I’ll take as few or as many as I can get.  I love family time.

This salad will likely make an appearance.  It’s the perfect Thanksgiving feast recipe, but is sure to please at other times of the year too.  It reminds me of nature during the fall season with rich colors of oranges, reds and greens.  It’s loaded with fall’s best ingredients:  sweet potatoes, garbanzo beans, pomegranate seeds, blueberries, apples, celery, nuts and seeds and a lovely cinnamon citrus dressing you’ll want to use over and over.

I toss the sweet potatoes and the garbanzo beans together in a spicy smoked paprika, cumin, cayenne mixture and then roast.  The flavors that emerge are fantastic additions to any salad or filling for a burrito or omelet.  So many uses.

Meanwhile I make the dressing by combining all the ingredients in a small jar.  Shake and store until ready to use.  Both the roasting of the sweet potatoes and the garbanzo beans along with the dressing can easily be made ahead to save time.

Then it’s go time by arranging the ingredients in separate wedges on the salad greens with the dressing on the side or tossing it all together along with the dressing.  It’s completely your call.  Either way, it’s a lovely salad for this time of year when we can appreciate nature’s most vivid colors as well as life’s most cherished blessings.

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Inspired by one of my favorite bloggers at Oh Sweet Basil.

More Salads to enjoy:

• Roasted Artichoke and White Bean Salad with Lemon Basil Vinaigrette
• Winter Green Salad with Pomegranate Dressing
• Roasted Beet and Feta Salad with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
• Kale and Quinoa Salad with Lemon Oregano Dressing
• My Big Fat Greek Salad