Winter Apple & Beet Salad with Honey Dressing

Eating locally grown produce in the winter can get really tiresome, really fast. Around Vancouver, winter's bounty is basically limited to squashes and root vegetables - things that don't bode well for a fresh, crisp salad. Thankfully apples are in abundance, as are beets. And although not local, pomegranates are in season until the end of January. Add all that to layer of fresh mixed greens* and you have an artful, appetizing winter salad!

Serves 2 entrée sized salads.

Honey Dressing

A simple oil & vinegar dressing with a hint of sweetness.

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
2 teaspoons local honey
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

1. Add all ingredients to a small bowl or salad dressing cruet and mix well.

Tip: Coat your teaspoon in olive oil to make the honey slide off easily into your bowl!

Salad


1 medium size beet, greens cut off
4 cups mixed baby salad greens (I used baby spinach and pea shoots)
1/2 small red apple and 1/2 small green apple, cored and thinly sliced
1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
2 tablespoons feta cheese (optional)
prepared dressing

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees (F). Rinse beets and place on a sheet of foil and lightly drizzle with olive oil. Seal foil around beets to make a small packet. Bake in pre-heated oven for 25-35 minutes until fork tender. Remove from oven to cool. When beets have cooled enough to handle, put on some rubber gloves and remove the skins using your fingers. Skins should be tender enough to slip off, by pushing up with your thumbs. Once peeled, cut off root ends, then cut beets into small, bite sized chunks.

2. Arrange salad greens over two plates. Top each plate with half the beet chunks, half the red apple slices and half the green apple slices. Sprinkle half the pomegranate seeds and feta cheese over each plate. Drizzle desired amount of dressing over top.

This would also be great topped with toasted pine nuts or sunflower seeds!

(*No, salad greens aren't locally available in winter either, but we have to pick our battles!)

This post is part of Monday Mania @ The Healthy Home Economist.

Beet Hummus - Guest Post from Marianne

Today I have the pleasure of sharing a guest post by Marianne, of From French Fries to Flax Seeds. Marianne went to high school with me eons ago and last year, we reconnected over Facebook. Turns out she likes food as much as I do so we became Farmer's Market buddies! Marianne is training to be a registered dietitian, so along with having great recipes, she is also extremely knowledgeable about dietary health and nutrition. This may just be the longest post I have ever posted and include the most pictures, but is also one of the best! I cannot wait to make my own batch of beet hummus!

Beet It!
by Marianne of From French Fries to Flax Seeds

There are plenty of foods I may declare that I don’t like, but it’s not always true. It’s just easier to say “I don’t like (blank)” than to try and explain the situations in which I enjoy said food. Take tomatoes, for example. I often say I don’t like them, but I do eat them in things like salsa, ketchup, soups, stews, and of course Caesars ;) But tomatoes in salads or sandwiches, or in a pasta sauce? No thanks. I’ll pass. Because “I don’t like tomatoes”.

But this post isn’t about tomatoes. It’s about beets.

Check out the rest of Marianne's awesome post, mouth watering photos and great recipe for Beet Hummus after the jump.

Beet Cakes

Beets? In a cake? It's another crazy recipe from Richardo! Remember the Lettuce Soup? Yea... that was him too!

I love beets and I love baked goods. Seemed like a no-brainer to try this recipe out. One online reviewer raved "you would never guess it contains beets!" There is a very faint earthy taste of beets, but it isn't unpleasant. The vibrant pink colour is a nice touch too. Even my mom, who HATES beets, enjoyed her beet cake! These cakes are sweet and buttery with a hint of lemon. Served slightly warm, they are so moist that you don't need any added icing or other topping, although Ricardo's Mascarpone Cream looks delicious! I will be making these again for sure. Next time I may try an un-refined alternative to all the white sugar though.

A side note - my cakes didn't rise too much. Actually they didn't rise at all! I think I need some new baking powder.

Adapted from Ricardo & Friends

Beet Cakes:

1 cup peeled, grated raw beets
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup unrefined cane sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds (optional)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 12 cup muffin tin.

2. In a saucepan over medium heat, soften grated beets in butter and lemon juice, for about 5 minutes. Let cool so no longer hot to the touch.

3. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.

4. In another larger bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes. Add in the dry ingredients and mix together then gently fold in the beet mixture. Do not over mix!

5. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Sprinkle with the slivered almonds.

6. Bake in pre-heated oven for between 20 minutes or, until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a cake comes out clean.

7. Loosen the cakes by running a knife around the inside of each muffin cup. Gently remove the cakes, without inverting the pan, and place on a cooling rack to cool slightly (I found them better slightly warm). If serving with ice cream or Ricardo's Mascarpone Cream, let cool completely before topping with the cream.

Sauteed Mushrooms & Beet Greens

I picked up some beets at the market, complete with the greens attached. While I admit, I normally am one to let things go to waste, today it was not in the cards. The beets were put to use, root, green and all. Unfortunately I don't have a picture because I ate the goods a little too quickly. :)

greens from a bunch of beets (I used 6-8 leaves)
1/4 red onion, sliced thin
1 cup button mushrooms, sliced
couple tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper to taste

1. Heat oil in a saute pan over medium heat.

2. Add onions and saute for a minute until starting to turn translucent. Add mushrooms and saute another couple minutes until just starting to brown.

3. Tear the leaves into 2-3 inch pieces. Toss greens into saute pan.

4. Add balsamic vinegar and stir until greens start to wilt.

5. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Roasted Vegetables on Broiled Polenta

While looking for an alternative to the usual starchy side dish of potatoes or rice, I came across Karina's recipe for Roasted Vegetables on Broiled Polenta. It's the kind of recipe I really enjoy - a fridge cleaner. Take whatever veggies you have in the fridge and throw them on a pan. There isn't much to the recipe. No measurement or quantities. Usually I make stir fry's using this method so this roasted vegetable dish is a nice change. Using pre-cooked, store bought polenta is a real time saver too. What is polenta, you ask? It's just boiled cornmeal and it's darn tasty broiled with EVOO.

Serves 2-3

4-5 cups of assorted, chopped vegetables (I used brocoli, carrots, red onion, zucchini, beets and cherry tomatoes.)
4 cloves whole garlic, peeled
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Herb blend of your choice (I used a Vegetable seasoning blend from Epicure)
Salt & fresh ground pepper
Splash of balsamic vinegar
1 roll of pre-cooked polenta
Shaved Parmesan for garnish

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Place chopped veggies (including garlic) on a baking sheet. Drizzle with EVOO and sprinkle herb blend, salt and pepper over top. Toss well. Drizzle with a bit of balsamic vinegar.

3. Roast for 30-40 minutes until nearly done.

4. Meanwhile, slice polenta into thin slices and arrange them on a separate baking sheet, drizzled with olive oil. Brush tops of slices with more olive oil. I used a garlic infused olive oil for this part.

5. When veggies are nearly done, cover with foil and place on bottom rack of oven. Set oven to broil and place polenta into the oven on the higher rack.

6. Broil until polenta is sizzling, just starting to brown on top and crispy around the edges (10-15 minutes).

7. Remove everything from the oven. Arrange a few polenta slices on each plate. Take one of the roasted garlic bulbs and squish it a bit then rub it across the polenta. (Add the rest of the roasted garlic to the veggie mix and eat them whole! Yum!) Top polenta with roasted veggies. Grate some fresh Parmesan over top and drizzle with more balsamic vinegar.

Roasted Beet & Sweet Potato Salad

This salad is so delicious but it takes a bit of time to prepare, most of it inactive while you wait for the veggies to roast. An hour to prepare a lunch dish can be a little unreasonable. If you have the time, definitely do it. If not, I suggest making roasted veggies for dinner the night before then use the left overs to make the salad for lunch the next day.

Serves 2

1/2 large sweet potato (or 1 small), peeled and cut into chunks
2 small beets (or 1 large), trimmed, peeled and cut into chunks (use gloves to avoid red hands!)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 avocado
1/2 small red onion, sliced thin
1 tbsp pine nuts
2 tbsp goat's milk feta cheese
3 cups mixed greens (baby spinach, spring mix, arugula etc)

dressing:

3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
pinch salt
pinch pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Arrange sweet potato chunks on a baking tray and drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil. Arrange beet chunks on a separate baking tray and drizzle with the other 1 tbsp olive oil. Separate trays are necessary otherwise your lovely orange sweet potato will turn pink.

3. Roast veggies in the oven until tender, about 30 mins-40mins.

4. While veggies are cooking, roast pine nuts over medium heat in a dry skillet. Remove from skillet just as they start to turn golden brown. Do not leave unattended as they can burn quickly and you will need to start over!

5. In a glass container with a tight fitting lid, mix dressing ingredients and shake well.

6. Arrange the lettuce on two plates. Top with red onion slices.

7. When cooked, remove veggies from oven.

8. Peel, pit and slice the avocado. Arrange avocado pieces on top of lettuce (1/4 avocado on each plate).

9. Arrange roasted sweet potato and beet pieces on top of salad (1/2 on each plate).

10. Sprinkle pine nuts and goat's feta over top of each salad.

11. Finish each salad with a drizzle of dressing.

12. Serve immediately, while veggies are still warm.

13. Sit and savour. Smile at the gorgeous, healthy meal you have created.

Variations:

- Use walnuts instead of pine nuts
- sub butternut squash for the sweet potato
- try blue cheese instead of feta or...
- omit the goat's feta for a vegan dish

The possibilities are endless!