Butternut Squash, Blue Cheese, Cranberry, and Caramelized Onion Salad with Walnuts

Last weekend I went to a pumpkin festival.  It has helped me get in the mood for fall even though the temperature is more reminiscent of summer.  Yesterday I wore a scarf to work, and it was too hot.

The pumpkin festival was fun.  They had a corn maze and a hay ride.  You could also pay a little more to fling some mushy apples with a sling shot.  I'm cheap so I didn't.  

They sold kettle corn, pumpkin pie, apple pie, apple donuts, and apple cider.  I bought a pumpkin roll.  It is one of my favorite desserts.  I also bought some apple butter and an acorn squash.  I talked myself out of buying, which I consider a serious win for my self control.

I wrote the steps for this recipe down somewhere, but I lost the paper.  I'm going from memory for this one.  Luckily salads are pretty self explanatory.

I used 1 butternut squash, spinach, blue cheese, walnuts, dried cranberries, two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon butter, salt, 1 onion for this recipe, and honey dijon vinaigrette.

I added a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, the butter, a thinly sliced onion, and some salt to a medium-hot skillet.  I continued to cook and stir this until the onions became caramelized.  This took around half an hour.  I added a little water when the pan started to look too dry.

I cubed the butter nuts squash.  I drizzled on extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled on salt.  I baked the squash for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

To construct the salad, I added a layer of baby spinach and added walnuts, blue cheese

I added dried cranberries and caramelized onions.

I added the tender butternut squash and then drizzled on some of the dressing.

This was a scrumptious salad.  It was hearty and healthy.

 It had sweet, savory, and tart element.

It was flavorful, filling, and attractive.

The onions were caramelized and sweet.  The cheese was creamy and pungent.

It had many desirable textures like creamy squash, crunchy nuts, and chewy dried fruit.

 I enjoyed it immensely.  It was delicious.