Roasted sweet potato salad

With homemade lemon, garlic & dijon dressing

In the pursuit of healthiness, when I'm too lazy to really cook (which is often), I make a big salad for dinner. I always start with butter lettuce (my fave these days). Then, for this recipe, I add sweet potatoes. They're so good in a salad! I chop 'em up, coat 'em in olive oil, roast 'em in the oven, and voila! Deliciousness. 

The other winning ingredient is crumbled goat cheese, not to be confused with feta. I think I need to have t-shirts made: "Put some goat cheese on it." Then there's the salad dressing, which — listen up! — this is my favorite homemade dressing to date. It's so easy and fresh and I just want to sop it up with crusty bread, but I won't because I'm pursuing healthiness. Luckily this scrumptious salad makes healthy taste absolutely scrumptious.

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ROASTED SWEET POTATO SALAD

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

SALAD

Butter lettuce (I buy the bagged kind) 

1–2 sweet potatoes (depending on size) 

Crumbled goat cheese, to taste

Walnuts or pecans, to taste

Dried cranberries, to taste

Olive oil, salt, and pepper

Homemade or bottled dressing (go homemade!)

LEMON, GARLIC & DIJON DRESSING

1 TBS fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/8 tsp salt

1 clove garlic, finely minced

3 TBS olive oil

WHAT YOU'LL DO

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel sweet potato and slice into 1/4-inch chips. *Note: You can chop the sweet potato into chunks, but it will cook faster in chip form. In a bowl, toss the sliced potatoes with enough olive oil, salt, and pepper to coat them on all sides.

2. Line a baking sheet with foil (for easy clean up), then spread the potatoes in an even layer. If they look too dry or under seasoned, sprinkle extra salt and pepper and drizzle extra oil. Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes, or until fork tender, flipping the potatoes halfway through. (You can keep cooking them a little longer so they develop some browned bits, but it's not a requirement.)

3. While the potatoes are cooking, make the dressing: Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk with a fork until smoothly combined. 

4. In a large bowl, combine lettuce and a handful each of nuts, dried cranberries, and goat cheese (just eyeball the amounts). Toss together with the dressing, to taste. Divide the salad into serving bowls, and top each with roasted sweet potatoes and an extra sprinkling of cranberries, nuts, and cheese. Season with salt and pepper and an extra drizzle of dressing, if needed.

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I typically roast one or two sweet potatoes, depending on the size and how far I want the salad to go. For just two people, I use about half a bag of lettuce. If I were making a larger salad, I'd maybe do two or three sweet potatoes and double the dressing, just in case. Better safe than sorry! In the event of leftover sweet potatoes, I refrigerate them overnight in an airtight container, then reheat them in the microwave before adding them to a lunchtime salad. It's salad for days, people! Except this one's seriously delish.