The Salad

Have you underestimated the salad?  Are you one of those who think that men don't eat salads?  

- Or do you recall the days of a salad consisting of a quartered iceberg lettuce, 3 cherry tomatoes, 2 slices of cucumber and a ring of red onion?

Either way, let me tell you that salads endless possibilites. 

The range is huge.....
fruit, potato, macaroni, green, greek, beet, and lets not forget corn, broccoli and taco.  It was silly for me to even start trying to name all the varies types of salad.  Just know they are out there. 

This is the most wonderful time of year to feast on salads.  Just walking through the local farmers market or the local grocery store can get me excited.  When was the last time you had a salad that included every color group.  (not too sure what I mean about color groups?  Fruits and vegetables are broken up into 7 different color groups.  Each color group represents different nutritional characteristics.)

My latest finds have been adding fruit to salads.  I've discovered the merits of watermelon and feta cheese...mmmmmmmm!  Sliced strawberries...chunky cuts of green apple...and lets not forget the ever popular dried cranberries and chopped walnuts.  Ohhh I almost forgot about pears with a maple vinaigrette.  Has your mind begun to race thinking of the possibilities?

Here's one of my favorite salads.

Roasted beet salad

1 Bunch of fresh beets (keep the greens!!!)
1 clove of garlic
1 small onion chopped
2 Oranges
Olive oil
salt & pepper
A few walnuts if you'd like

Wash the beets and their greens REALLY THOROUGHLY... unless you like sand in your food Then wrap each beet in tinfoil like you would a baked potato and bake at 400 for 1-1 1/2 hrs untill you can easily poke them with a fork. When cool skin should peel off easily. Chop them into little wedges.

Chop & sautee the onions & garlic in a lil olive oil untill soft then add the chopped beet greens and wilt them. I used the stems as well but added them earlier with the onions so they would get soft too. Let this cool.

Peel and chop your oranges then gently toss all of your ingredients together.



For your salad dressing you can come up with anything you'd like.  I used a little red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil & seasoned with salt and pepper. 

I can eat it warm but most people prefer it chilled.

Enjoy ~