Orange & Beet Spring Salad

WOW! I am averaging one post per month since February! How horrible! Not to excuse my neglect, but the past month has been quite a transition period for me. I moved into my very own solo apartment and have been slowly but surely settling in… Oh and I currently bum internet off of nearby restaurants. AWESOME! Not. Ha! Regardless, my kitchen is fully functional so I really have no reason not to be posting, and so here we are :)

I know a lot of you are probably thinking my first post back is going to be some crazy recipe, but sometimes you just gotta go back to basics! With spring in full force, I have been on a salad BINGE! This salad not only full of every flavor profile you can think of, but also extremely beautiful. Go get your paper and pen and start writing down the ingredients! I promise, you won’t be underwhelmed….

Ingredients

• 2 beets
• 1 orange
• Your choice of greens (I used kale)
• Herbed goat cheese
• Avocado
• Kalamata olives
• Salt & Pepper

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Clean beets thoroughly and pat dry. Place beets on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Cover with foil and bake for about 45 minutes.
2. Once your beets are finished baking, let them cool and then peel the skin off. Slice into medallions or cubes. Rinse your choice of greens and pay dry. Slice oranges into medallions or cubes, prepare avocado into slices/cubes, crumble goat cheese, and add olives. Season with salt and pepper.

ET VOILA! So easy! Great as a side salad, but you can also make it into a meal by adding some meat (rotisserie chicken anyone?!) or nuts (walnuts would be phenomenal!). Also, I know not everyone enjoys salad without dressing like I do, so if you are in need of dressing try something simple like a lemon vinaigrette (3 parts olive oil; 1 part lemon juice; lemon zest; touch of Dijon mustard). The components of the salad really are so flavorful that the dressing should just highlight that, not overwhelm. Try swapping kale for watercress, arugula or spinach – YUM!

I sincerely hope you all are excited to have me back up and running!

Health & Love <3