Hi all and Happy Monday! I hope those of you who celebrate Easter had a great day with friends and/or family and hopefully the easter bunny left you some candies, chocolates, or cooked you a fabulous Easter dinner. We had the boyfriend's parents in town so dinner was at ours. Lots of fixin's were made and shared, but my fave was the beet salad: beets, mixed greens, red onion, black quinoa, walnuts, and love. Yes love....cuz that's what makes food taste good right? There was a small amount of beets left over today from last night so i salvaged the remains and recreated the dish for lunch. While i didn't add any walnuts or red onion today i would highly recommend tossing both into the mix. I also subbed spinach in since i was fresh out of mixed greens, but that didn't compromise taste. Now i will say this salad is slightly involved, but only because you need to cook beets and quinoa. So when you are going to be at home for a while - say working on your computer, wasting time on FB, edu-ma-cating yourself on good eating here on my blog, or say...shopping on me' new etsy shop (hint hint), you can toss the beets in the oven and let-em cook for an hour. You'll be so busy you didn't even realize that the hour passed! Quinoa only takes about 20 minutes to cook, and it's always good to cook up a pot to have on hand for salads and other quick dishes. It stores well for a few days in the fridge.
Beet and Quinoa salad:
Heat oven to 400. Trim the tail and the leaves off of the beet. Leave about a half inch of stem so the beet doesn't bleed out too much. Rinse and scrub gently, but leave the skin on. Wrap the beets in foil to create a steam pouch, pun on a rimmed baking dish and cook for about an hour, until soft when pieced with fork. Allow to cool. Once cool you can use a towel to help slip the skins off. Cut off the stem and slice to the size you prefer for your dish.
Cook quinoa - one part quinoa to two parts water or veggie broth. Heat water/broth to a boil, add quinoa and dash of EVOO, stir, return to boil, cover and reduce to simmer for another 15- 20 min. Fluff with fork. Allow to cool.
Make your dressing: 1 Tbsp stone ground mustard, approx 2 tsp EVOO, approx 2 tsp balsamic vig, stevia (or honey or agave) and dash sea salt to taste.
Thinly slice red onion, crush a handful of walnuts, and toss this into a mixing bowl with mixed baby greens. Toss lightly with dressing. Add the cooled quinoa and beets, lightly toss and serve.
This would also be great with some soft cheese like feta or goat if you are a dairy do-er.
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