Hearty Roasted Butternut Squash & Apple Salad

Can you tell that I just barely had enough light left to photograph this salad? Imagine me in the backyard, trying to stand very still (like, don’t-breathe still) over a plate of salad while Cookie chased squirrels away. Click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click, and after all that, I only got a few photos that weren’t blurry.

Granted, I had all weekend to make this salad, but I just had to wait until mid-afternoon on Sunday to get to work on them. I miss long summer days.

Ingredients:

1 cup hard white wheat berries, rinsed (or your whole grain of choice—farro would be a great substitute; gluten-free options include quinoa or sorghum)
• 1 Granny smith apple, cored and sliced into ½” wide wedges
• One small (2 to 2 ½ pounds) butternut squash
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon salt, plus more for sprinkling
• 5 ounces baby arugula (about 5 cups, packed)
• ⅓ cup dried cranberries

Cinnamon-maple pecans

• ½ cup pecan pieces (or roughly chopped whole pecans)
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup
• Pinch ground cinnamon
• Pinch salt

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ¼ teaspoon salt