Honey Roasted Pumpkin Spinach Salad

Tantalize your tastebuds with a sweet savory mix of honey roasted fresh pumpkin tossed with baby spinach leaves and toasted sesame seeds. This delicious dish makes a perfect light lunch, or pair it with steamed brown rice for dinner.
Eating fresh fruits and veggies that are in season is an excellent way to reduce the grocery budget. Fall is my favorite season for several reasons, the delicious fare, having jar after jar of home canned deliciousness sitting in our stocked pantry, rich beautiful colors and amazing flavors of fresh pumpkin, apples and more.

This recipe uses two fall favorites, fresh pumpkin and baby spinach leaves.

You'll Need:
3 cups pumpkin, deseeded, peeled, cut into small chunks
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp honey
1 Tbs. sesame seeds
1 tbs fresh lemon juice
1 tbs honey, extra
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
1 pkg baby spinach leaves
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (*optional)
Feta Cheese Crumbles (*Optional)

Preheat oven to 400F

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the cubed pumpkin chunks in a large bowl. In a small bowl combine 2 tsp olive oil and 2 tsp honey together, mixing well. Drizzle the honey/oil mix over the pumpkin chunks, Season lightly with salt and pepper. Gently toss until the pumpkin is well coated.

Spread the seasoned pumpkin in a single layer on the lined tray. Bake for 12 minutes, remove from oven, flip the pumpkin pieces over, return to over for another 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Return to oven and bake for 5 minutes or until the seeds are lightly toasted. Remove from oven and set aside for 30 minutes to cool.

While the pumpkin is cooling, in a small bowl combine the lemon juice, 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, mustard and 1 tablespoon honey in a screw-top jar and shake until well combined. Season with salt and pepper.

Place the pumpkin, spinach and pine nuts (if using) in a large bowl. Drizzle with the dressing and gently toss until just combined. Serve right away. If you happen to have feta cheese crumbles, they really add zip and offset the sweet pumpkin and tangy honey dressing and add just the right amount of "oomph" as we like to call it.

GroceryBudget101 Breakdown:
Spinach Leaves .99 (in season)
Pumpkin $1.00 (About a 1/3 of a pumpkin)
Honey .25
Oil .20
seasonings/seeds .25
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Total Cost of Recipe $2.29 - feeds 4 = .57 per person


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