alice bethany

Healthy Eating | Butternut Squash and Halloumi Salad

I have recently joined the gym in best efforts of a healthier lifestyle and I feel it would be wasted time if I came home to eat fatty processed foods filled with artificial flavourings so I have been trying out a few salad recipes of my own. I found this delicious yet it is also really nutritious...

Ingredients
- spinach leaves
- 1 stick of celery
- 1/2 an orange pepper
- 1/2 a courgette
- 1/4 of a butternut squash
- 1/4 tin of sweetcorn
- 30g halloumi cheese
- dried thyme and coriander
- salt
- pepper
- 3 tbsp olive oil
for the dressing
- 50ml olive oil
- juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 1 tbsp honey

1.  Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Peel the butternut squash and cut into 1cm cubes and place on a baking tray. Drizzle 1 tbsp of oil over the squash and roast for 20 minutes.
2. Dice all of the vegetables and slow roast them in a baking tray with the remainder of the oil and season with the herbs, cook for 20 minutes.
3. Layer the spinach leaves and sweetcorn onto a plate.
4. Make the dressing by adding all the ingredients into a bowl and whisking thoroughly together until they have formed an emulsion.
5. Cut the cheese into small pieces and fry the in vegetables remainder oil until browned.
6. Drizzle half of the dressing over the leaves and then place the vegetables and halloumi on top.
7. Pour the rest of the dressing over the salad, enjoy!

Health Benefits:

Courgette - aids water balance - lowers cholesterol and stroke risk - supports efficient metabolism 

Sweetcorn - fights age-related vision loss - promotes a healthy digestive tract  

Spinach - helps strengthen bones - contains anti-cancer properties - helps fight inflammation - helps prevent atherosclerosis

Celery - helps lower blood pressure - has a diuretic action - promotes feeling of fullness - promotes healthy joints and muscles

Pepper - promotes collagen synthesis - helps protect against cataracts - maintains healthy blood vessels - contains anti-cancer substances 

Butternut Squash - helps fight inflammation - lowers risk of heart disease and stroke - promotes bowel regularity - supports a healthy pregnancy 

If you have any salad recipes on your blog please link me!