Wasabi Cranberry Salad

I got this recipe on the back of a pre-packaged Dole salad - I believe it was the Tender Garden salad.  As I looked at the ingredients, I was like, oh yeah.  I'm sooo making this.  So I kept the recipe and I made it.  And it was fantastic.  My hubby looooved it, especially the bits of roasted butternut squash.

Wasabi Cranberry Salad

Salad Ingredients
Tender Garden pre-packaged salad (or whatever greens you have on hand.  I had a mix of arugula, spinach, and green leaf lettuce leftover from another green salad a few days earlier, and it tasted fine)
Smoked turkey (I just unfroze some leftover Thanksgiving turkey and tossed it in there, and it was great)
Oven-roasted butternut squash
Toasted pumpkin seeds (also called pepitas.  I found them in the Hispanic aisle of the grocery store)

Dressing Ingredients
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp dried cranberries
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp. wasabi powder or paste
1 tsp. sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
salt and pepper, to taste

So first, you'll need to roast your squash.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Peel the skin off the whole squash.  Cut your squash in half lengthwise.  Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and goop.  Put the halves on a baking sheet, the side with the now-hole you scooped stuff out of, up.  Place 1 tsp of butter in that little hole.  Sprinkle brown sugar over all of the rest of the side of the squash that's facing up.  Roast for one hour.

I can't remember if I used the whole squash in my salad - I think I did.  I had enough greens to make two days of salad, so I used one half one day and the other half the other day.  Anyways, after the squash has roasted and cooled, slice it into bite-sized pieces and sprinkle it on top of your greens.  Add as much turkey as you want and as many pumpkin seeds as you want and toss it.

Put the dressing ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  I only used half the dressing one day and half the dressing the other day for this salad.  You just kind of pour it on and toss it until you feel that there's a good dressing-to-greens ratio.  Sometimes if you pour too much, the salad gets soggy, and that's obnoxious.  So it's better to be careful and add a little at a time until you get the saturation you want.