Roasted Chicken, Butternut Squash & Cranberry Salad

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #HelloNutchello #CollectiveBias

Happy Leap Day everyone! We had a good low key couple of days this past weekend. We spent Saturday wine tasting with new friends and binge-watched the new Fuller House series with the kids. Noah has officially started spring soccer and I am still trying to grasp the fact that we are already entering into the month of March.

Yesterday afternoon was a blustery day, but we had some nice breaks of sunshine in between the showers. The flowers on our plum trees are beginning to bloom and it excites me; I’m ready for spring.

I decided to make a salad yesterday, because salads are something that I seem to want to serve more in the springtime. We have an overabundance of hazelnuts that one of my husband’s coworkers gave us, so I knew I’d put some into the salad. We have been so blessed because his friend literally gave us 4 huge bags for filled with non-cracked hazelnuts. Needless to say that in our free time (like binge watching certain shows) we keep busy by cracking these hazelnuts.

Our family has always loved snacking on nuts. Peanuts, walnuts, cashews, pistachios, and hazelnuts are some of our favorites. Silk has a new product out called Nutchello that comes in three flavors: Caramel Almond + Cashew, Dark Chocolate + Walnut, and Toasted Coconut + Cashew. They are nut based drinks that taste wonderful over ice! They are new and can be found at many local Walmarts.

I ended up creating a salad combination that I had never made before for us to eat yesterday. I threw together some roasted butternut squash, grilled chicken pieces, dried cranberries, and hazelnuts into some baby mixed greens and tossed it with a drizzle of olive oil. It turned out really tasty and I served with a little fruit and cracker platter that I threw together and poured some Nutchello with it.

Roasted Chicken, Butternut Squash & Cranberry Salad

What you need:

4 cups of mixed baby greens

8 ounces of grilled chicken

1 cup of hazelnuts

1 cup of diced roasted butternut squash

1 sprig of thyme

½ cup of dried cranberries

Olive oil to drizzle

Your favorite dressing (I had poppy seed and sweet onion on hand and both worked well)

• To roast the butternut squash: Dice the squash, then place the squash and thyme onto a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.

• Place the salad greens into a large salad bowl. Add the cranberries, and chicken pieces.

• Smash the hazelnuts using a hammer or the flat side of a knife so that they are in pieces. Add to the salad. After the butternut squash is cooled, add to the salad. Toss with a drizzle of olive oil. Serve with your favorite dressing.

• Serve with crackers and your favorite flavor of Nutchello.

Nutchello drinks have no cholesterol or saturated fat in them, and have no artificial colors or flavors. All of them are 90 calories or less per serving and free of dairy, soy, lactose and gluten! They are a tasty drink that you can have in the afternoon instead of your second cup of tea or coffee, because it's always 3 o'clock somewhere. ;) 

Are you ready for spring? What are some of your favorite spring time meals to make?

~Melissa