Chicken and quinoa salad with kale, butternut squash and fresh apples

Sometimes it can be really really hard to eat well when you're in graduate school.  There aren't enough hours in the day. Lately, I have been trying very hard to make large batches of something delicious and healthy on Sunday's that I can have for lunch or dinner all week.  This week I had a pantry full of random ingredients, so I decided to toss them into a warm, fall inspired salad.



Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
1 small butternut squash, chopped
half onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 bunch kale, separated from stems and shredded (stems are used too)
2/3 cup dry quinoa, prepared with stock or water
2 honey crisp apples, chopped
2+ TBS Olive Oil
1 TBS apple cider vinegar
1 TBS whole grain mustard
1 TBS agave nectar
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 375F. Rinse, dry, trim, and rub chicken breasts with olive oil.  Sprinkle them with salt, pepper, and 1 clove of chopped garlic. Bake for ~25 minutes. Once baked and cooled, shred chicken using 2 forks.

While chicken is baking, prepare 2/3 cup of dry quinoa as directed on the package.  You can use stock to make it more flavorful, but I just used water.

Also while the chicken is cooking, sauté the chopped onions, 1 clove of garlic, butternut squash, and chopped kale stems until squash is fork tender.  (I was impatient and actually stuck the sauté pan in the oven after 5 minutes of sautéing to roast for an additional 20 minutes).

Once the quinoa is done, add the shredded kale to the pot. This allows the steam to wilt the kale down. Add the chopped apple once the kale has wilted down.

Whisk together the apple cider vinegar, mustard, and agave.  Once all ingredients are cooked, toss them together with the dressing and enjoy.

Makes 4 servings 
nutrition per serving

Calories: 320

Carbs: 40

Fat: 10

Protein: 20

Fiber: 9