Roasted Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad

Fluffy quinoa gets a fall makeover! This Roasted Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad is full of every fall ingredient I could get my hands on.

I love cooking with quinoa. Not only is it good for you–being a complex carb and all–but I find that it’s much easier to prepare than regular long-grain rice. Here’s the sad truth: I had to invest in a rice cooker.

Every time I try to make rice on the stove top, it ends up mushy in a pool of liquid, with the exception of this Cranberry Orange Rice Pilaf–the rice gods had my back with that day.

I’ve tried every trick in the book and followed every bit of advice from friends and family, but my rice skills refused to improve. So, I bought a rice cooker. Now life is one giant peach!

With quinoa, I don’t have to travel to the depths of the basement pantry to dig out my rice cooker. I just rinse it, toast it, and simmer until light and fluffy. It turns out great every. single. time. Good-bye rice. Hello, quinoa!

I loaded this quinoa salad with every fall ingredient at my disposal. I even added a little something special: pomegranate seeds. I worked very hard to remove the pomegranate arils from my pomegranate, like, too hard. I tried breaking it apart, plucking each individual pomegranate–which resulted in a ruined shirt and splattered walls–and beating the pomegranate in order to loosen the arils, but nothing worked. Yes, they’re POM Wonderful, but they’re also a big POM pain in the booty. My suggestion: by the pre-seeded package of pomegranate seeds. Problem solved!

This quinoa salad screams fall! The roasted butternut squash gets folded into the fluffy quinoa with the addition of dried cranberries, roasted pumpkin seeds, fresh parsley, scallions, and salty feta cheese. I couldn’t stop scooping forkfuls of this salad right into my face. If you love quinoa and fall squash, I highly recommend this Sausage & Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash.

Head on over to Food Fanatic to grab this Roasted Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad recipe.