Kale and lime salad

For Fiona,

I said I'd post a few salad ideas up here for delicious healthy meals. Generally when I make salads, I just make them up, throw a few things together and think about what could make them feel more like a meal and less like a side.

A really nice thing to prepare, that can last for a few salads, or meals is roasted butternut squash triangles.

Cut a butternut squash (leave the skin on but give it a good wash) in half width ways and length ways then slice it all up into thin triangles. Keep the seeds for later. I preheat my electric oven to 180 degrees and lightly oil the squash in a big bowl with a little salt and a lot of pepper.

Pop that in the oven and leave for about half an hour.

I clear the pulp from the seeds and leave them to soak for at least 10 minutes in a mug of boiled water, again with a little salt. I generally leave them to soak the entire time the squash is cooking because I then use the same tray (so I don't need more oil) to spread the seeds out on, and use the remaining heat from the oven (once turned off) to dry the seeds to they can be added to the salad to give a crispy nutty flavour.

The leafy part of the salad is made up of Cos or Romaine or Gem lettuce, rocket and a big bag of kale. Don't go too mad on the leaves because you'll need to leave room for the other stuff. Make sure it's all washed and drained or dabbed with a kitchen cloth so the salad isn't too soggy.

Mix some goats cheese into the leafy part before adding the other veg and squash.

The other veg that goes in; chopped in half cherry tomatoes, carrot (if you like) and very tiny and thin triangles of half a lime.

Sprinkle your dried squash seeds on top and squeeze the other half of the lime over the top and you're done!

Enjoy!