Roasted Sweet Potato Spinach Salad with Maple Candied Walnuts, Avocado, Apples and Eggs

Good morning friends, it is almost three weeks into the New Year, how are you doing and feeling? If you made any resolutions do you find that you have given them up on them already or are you going full steam ahead? They say that most people give up on their resolutions by the first week in February, if you are still going strong Good for You! If you have given up, that is ok, tomorrow is a new day, you can start again. As I mentioned I do not make resolutions but I do like to change things up with each new year. 

One of the things I am doing this year is trying to incorporate more salads into my diet, I love salad but I am so L A Z Y about making them; I hate cutting up the vegetables and the toppings. I know that a lot of people “meal prep” but I do not have good luck with that, i waste too much because once I cut up all of the stuff I decide I am not in the mood for salads.

This salad is different because I make it with toppings I always have in my kitchen either in their raw or cooked state. For instance, I make sweet potatoes in my air fryer almost daily,  to eat for dinner or to use in another recipe and always have extra sweet potato chunks or butternut squash cooked in the refrigerator, the same with hard boiled eggs and the candied maple nuts and toasted seeds and nuts.  

For this salad you can use sweet potatoes that you have roasted or made in the air fryer, if you don’t like apples skip them, don’t feel like making the candies nuts or you don’t like maple syrup then use your favorite nuts or seeds. 

Roasted Sweet Potato Spinach Salad with Maple Candied Nuts Avocado, Apples and Eggs

Ingredients

3 cups of spinach or a mixture of greens

1/4 apple chopped in 1/2″ pieces

1/2-1 whole sweet potato roasted or air fried

1 hard boiled egg

1 half avocado

1/8 cup maple candied nuts and seeds (I used walnuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds)

Optional Garnish

Feta or blue cheese or vegan cheese

To make the maple candied nuts:

In a small skillet on the stove top heat the nuts and seeds until fragrant, then pour 1 tablespoon of maple syrup into the skillet and stir until all of the nuts are coated. Remove from heat, pour onto a baking mat to cool. Make extra nuts and seeds and store them in an air tight container to use as a garnish for other salads. 

Directions to Assemble Salad

Place your washed greens in a bowl. Top with roasted sweet potato, chopped apples, avocado and then sprinkle with nuts, add the egg and the cheese if using. 

This is one of my “go to” salads in the winter, it is filled with vitamins, proteins and healthy fats that are good for you and for keeping you on track with your healthy eating plan. As I mentioned above, add or subtract the fruits or vegetables that you do not like and customize the salad to your tastes; you can add raw nuts instead of candied maple, skip the egg and add chicken, don’t like sweet potato then add butternut squash. 

Today is Inauguration Day, Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States and Kamala Harris as the first women. I hope that all goes well and that we are on our way to a more unified country, at least that is what I am praying for.