Acorn Squash Salad and Detox Day 1

I believe it's a Chinese proverb that says "the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step" (or something VERY similar...). So here we are, day 1 of spring cleaning. I don't want to bore the world with my day to day happenings (if you can even call them happenings) but I figure everyday I'll share something about this process. Detoxing has gotten quite popular after all!

Today was a day of prepping. Grocery shopping, errand running, paper tweaking, calendar planning, house cleaning. I like days like this because I can avoid the work I really don't want to do (like, say, finalizing a thesis...).

So starting at 6 am I walked the dog, drank my fiber laden, raw food, protein shake for breakfast, rode my bike for a quick 13 miles, ate my designated 1/2 cup of lentils for lunch (seriously the best part about this diet is the lentils. YUM!) and am finishing up some roasted veggies for dinner.

I've never eaten acorn squash before. Verdict? AMAZING! Pretty sure I'll be eating many more of these little treasures in the future. I adapted a recipe from here to work with the detox diet (which means I took out the good stuff, like cheese...). Give it a try, it is amazingly tasty, even without the cheese!

Potato and Acorn Squash Salad (Adapted for Detox Diet)
Makes 2 servings


Ingredients

• 4 mixed fingerling potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces (I used red potatoes)
• 1 small Acorn squash, peeled, seeds removed and diced
• 8-10 spears of asparagus, washed, with bottom 1/3rd of stalk chopped off
• 1 cup baby carrots
• 1 tablespoons light olive oil
• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves only
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 large handful spinach & arugula mix (or one or the other)
• 
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425. Lightly toss the potatoes, squash, carrots, asparagus, rosemary, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes and remaining olive oil until coated. Roast for 40-45 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork tender. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, add the potatoes, spinach/arugula mix. Toss lightly to combine. Serve immediately.
3. SAVOR the delicious, earthy, warm goodness :) Mmmmm!