The best fall salad {GF, Veg}

With few key ingredients and an endless list of potential customizations, the best fall salad is the perfect tapestry for your imagination to run wild - and the perfect cure for dreary fall days and failing spirits.

I fell in love with the best fall salad last year, when I followed a recipe from the Food52 Genius Recipes cookbook. Excited, I shot the resulting concoction of kale, butternut squash and pumpkin seeds and went to edit the photos in Lightroom. Imagine my surprise when I saw that I had already made the same salad a year ago! That's when I knew this recipe was a keeper, one I simply had to share with you.

For some reason, when the weather turns and my mood becomes as grey as the clouds overhead, I turn to salads. To heal, I bake. To celebrate, I can. But to deal with the endless grey, the gathering clouds, the loss of hope? For that, I make salad. And if it's the best fall salad, even better.

Some of my salads are simple, requiring no more than some favourite pickles and a few fresh vegetables, or a selection of fresh ingredients. Others make use of leftovers grains, repurposing them for seasonal creations. Others are a whole production in and of themselves. But inevitably, they all manage to lift my spirits when it seems like nothing else could.

Without mincing words, I give you the blueprint for the best fall salad you'll ever try. Relying on a few simple ingredient categories, this salad is the perfect opening for seeing what's in your fridge and just running with it. Out of kale? Use arugula. Got no almonds? Roasted peanuts will do just fine. Don't have butternut squash, but that sweet potato has been staring at you for days? Go for it.

Whatever you do, however you play it, the best fall salad of your life is waiting just around the corner, ready to brighten up even the darkest of days.

what to serve with this fall kale salad?

I like to serve this salad with a sandwich like this BLT sandwich, if you eat meat.

if you want a Turkey sandwich, i recommend this turkey avocado sandwich.

(Note that most of the recipes I tried from Food52 Genius Recipes cookbook were no less, well, than the best. You'd be well advised to have this genius cookbook on your shelf).

Recipe