Elf4Health Challenge – Pumpkin Butter Vinaigrette

Yesterday’s challenge was to increase your fiber intake for the day. Unfortunately, I failed when I discovered my eggs from breakfast didn’t have a gram of fiber, amongst some of my other nutritional choices. Don’t get me wrong–we ate healthy meals, but they just weren’t jam-packed with fiber. Lesson learned: Be more conscious of your fiber intake. (It keeps you fuller longer, too!)

Flash forward to today’s challenge–have a salad and make your own dressing. I’ll be honest, I was nervous about this one, because I’m not one to venture into new foods (though I’ve been trying lately), and neither is my husband. Then around lunchtime Elle retweeted someone’s recipe of a pumpkin butter vinaigrette, and I was immediately intrigued. A quick look at the recipe meant all I needed to was pick up some honey (which I had been wanting to purchase) and maybe some pumpkin seeds to garnish our salad.

So I came home from the gym pumped for my new salad creation. I baked a couple of chicken breasts while I showered, then I set about chopping the lettuce, carrots, and celery. (I forgot to boil some eggs…oh well, next time!) After mixing the salad, I grabbed my Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Butter (why, oh why didn’t I buy more than just one jar!?!?), honey, apple cider vinegar, and olive and set about making this recipe.

After the chicken was finished, I dished up our salads, complete with the roasted pumpkin seeds and orange-infused cranberries from Trader Joe’s into our bowls, topped with chicken, then mixed up the dressing and topped my salad. O.M.G. Absolutely delicious! I added a little more honey to sweeten the flavor (it had a bit of a bite from the vinegar), but it was perfect. And even better: My husband really liked the salad! Yes, my husband, who believes a salad is a little bit of lettuce drenched in ranch dressing and cheese (love you, honey!) liked this light take on an Autumnal salad.

So…without much further adiu, here’s the recipe, courtesy Aggie’s Kitchen.

Delicious salad with chopped carrots, celery, pumpkin seeds, orange-infused cranberries, baked chicken (not pictured) and pumpkin butter vinaigrette.

Pumpkin Butter Vinaigrette

~1 tbsp pumpkin butter
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4-1/3 cup olive oil (I did only a 1/4 cup, which might have been why there was still so much of a bite left)
1/2 – 1 tsp honey (I just poured some in, didn’t really measure, but added more later to cut the sharpness of the vinegar)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a jar (the creator put hers in a jar that had remnants of pumpkin butter–I still have tons left still, so I just used a plastic container) and mix together. Then pour on salad and enjoy!

This will probably be a staple in our house now–I almost want to throw some of those sugar-laden, probably not good for you, salad dressings in our fridge out now! However, I’m afraid I don’t know what to do when I run out of pumpkin butter (TJ doesn’t have any more), so I’m wondering how this would taste with apple butter?

Any other homemade salad dressings I should attempt? 

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• Strawberry Salad with Candied Almondsand Balsamic Vinaigrette | Babble (babble.com)
• Make Your Own Salad Dressings and Sauces (everydayhealth.com)