Vegan Salad Recipes: Copycat Panera Superfood Salad

Give me a bowl of autumn squash soup and you better watch your fingers--I might just devour them in my spoon-to-mouth shoveling. The start of fall for me isn’t about PSLs or Uggs…it’s about Panera’s autumn squash soup. Every year, at the stroke of midnight, I chime my imaginary bell in celebration, when summer turns into the joyous new season of fall. But other than fall, I can equate my interaction with Panera with the likes of my bothersome DMV registration renewal that sits perpetually ignored…uninteresting and purposefully put-off. It wasn’t until the flowers came out to bloom this spring and Panera introduced its vegan, quinoa, beet, and citrus, superfood salad that I found a renewal in admiration. The wholesome, nutty quinoa, earthy beets, tantalizingly sweet orange segments, and crispy nuts were enough to make me a Panera spring believer! And while I munched down my soon-to-be food baby, I wondered why I hadn’t ever thought of making this kind of salad myself. With it being vegan and with Panera’s commitment to 100% clean ingredients, I knew it wouldn’t be that hard to mimic the sultry seasonal flavors I’d fallen in love with. And guess what? It wasn’t! Just as easy and for a lower cost, you can create your own Panera café in the center of your kitchen--thirst-quenching fountain green tea not included. In this recipe, you’ll fall in love all over again with the delicious, crisp, seasonal, savory bits of spring we tend to forget, but all-around love. You’ll delight in the heap of nutritional benefits, such as: • Quinoa & Walnuts – contain the anti-inflammatory and brain-improving omega-3 fatty acid • Kale – full of antioxidants, vitamin a, vitamin k, vitamin c, and many other nutrients • Brussel sprouts – contain glucosinolates that provide antibacterial and antiviral properties • Beets – contains nitric oxide which can improve circulation And with my easy, homemade tangy and sweet Dijon vinaigrette dressing, I dare you NOT to fall in love with it!