Black Quinoa Salad with Lemon Avocado & Pistachios

I had a huge bunch of beet greens that I wanted to use when I saw the recipe that came along with our CSA produce box, a Black Quinoa Salad with Lemon, Avocado and Pistachios by Deborah Madison and I immediately decided I would try out the recipe.  I know that lots of good things have been said about quinoa already, but it is an especially good carb for diabetics since it is digested very slowly in the body and won't spike your blood sugar.

I had never cooked with black quinoa before this so I never realized that black quinoa is much crunchier than other quinoa.  At first I thought maybe I misjudged the cooking time!  It makes for an interesting texture and the color adds aesthetic interest, but I think if I were to make this again, I'd mix the black quinoa with some of the other quinoas...it's just a little too crunchy for my personal taste.

However, the dish itself was beautiful and very easy to throw together.  I loved the dressing and it went perfectly well with all the herbs mixed into the salad.

Golden Beet Salad

We are very lucky to have a local farmer's market very close to our place.  It always feels good to be able to pick up fresh organic fruits and veggies.  Cy loves beets so we tend to include them in our grocery list fairly often.  I personally like the red ones but they seem to scare Cy (especially when visiting the ahem, you know where).  

Whenever I come home with beets I try to immediately cut off the leaves (for later use) and throw the roots in the oven to roast so that I can use them during the week.

Add water, cover with foil, and roast about an hour
at 350F in the oven

....and voile! the peels come off easily

This time I made a simple salad using red onions and some of the apple mint growing on my balcony.  The tart vinegar really brings out the sweetness of the beets.  It's like nature's candy!

This is just one of those things that I throw together so there is no formal recipe.  Everything is fairly approximate and flexible.  I think you can throw some orange slice in there if you felt like it, use shallots instead of red onions...it's great because you can adjust according to what you have on hand.

Golden Beet Salad

Ingredients:
(Serves 4)

A bunch of Golden Beets...approx 6

White Wine or Sherry Vinegar...2-3tbsp
Extra Virgin Olive Oil...2-3tbsp

Minced Red Onions or shallots....1/2c 

Mint Leaves...8-10 leaves

Salt & Pepper...to taste

feta or goat cheese..optional

Directions.

1)  Preheat oven to 350-400F.

2) Cut off stems off the beets, give them a good rinse and place them in a baking pan filled with just enough water so that it covers the bottom of the pan.

3) Cover with foil and roast for approximately an hour.  Pull out of the oven and let it cool until ready to handle.

4)  Once cool, the skin of the beets should come off pretty easily.  (sometimes it helps to do this under running water)

5)  Slice Beets and toss with vinegar, oil, onions, mint and cheese.  Add salt and pepper to taste and ENJOY!

**You can just prep the beets ahead of time (steps 1-4) and keep them in the fridge for up to a few days until you're ready to use for the salad, or whatever else you feel like making.