Beet and Goat Cheese Salad

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This is my GO-TO SALAD which is so funny for me to say because I hated beets up until I hit my 20’s. I became very aware of my diet and body in my early 20’s and realized I don’t eat many vegetables so I forced myself to incorporate more vegetables in my meals. My mom always LOVED BEETS which motivated me to create a salad I could have beets in and share with her. The dressing is SIMPLE and doesn’t take away from the rest of the salad. The trader joe’s CANDIED PECANS are always a favorite snack of mine so adding those to the salad for some crunch felt right and tasted right! Hope you enjoy it and don’t forget to share it with others!

PREP TIME: 10 minutes l COOK TIME: 0 minutes l TOTAL TIME: 10 minutes 

 

Ingredients

Dressing

  • 1 cup olive oil

  • 1 large lemon, zested and juiced

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • ½ teaspoon pepper

  • 1 teaspoon honey

Salad

  • 5 oz baby arugula

  • 5 oz goat cheese, I love the herb coated ones

  • 8 oz steamed beets, I always buy them from the grocery store pre-cooked but you can always make them at home if you are comfortable handing them

  • 1 cup trader joe’s candied pecans, chopped in bite size pieces

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Directions

Serving size: 6 side salads or 3 full salads

  1. Whisk together the salt, pepper, honey, lemon zest and lemon juice in a medium size bowl.

  2. Once combined, stream in the olive oil while whisking to create a well combined dressing. You can always make this ahead of time and store the dressing in fridge up to 7 days; just be sure to shake it up before using.

  3. For your salad base, grab a large bowl and toss together half the dressing and arugula.

  4. Place the dressed arugula on a large serving platter.

  5. Next, cut up the beets into bite size pieces and add to the top of the . If you are making these fresh, be sure to cool them completely before adding to the salad.

  6. Place the dressed arugula and beets in a large serving platter (try to keep the beets so people see what’s inside) and crumble the goat cheese on top of the beets. Keeping the cheese chilled before doing this helps get nice crumbles throughout the salad.

  7. Drizzle the plated salad with the other half of the dressing and top with chopped pecans.

Serve as a side salad or a light, fresh meal!

 

FoodTripti Kumar-Ghumanbeets, salad, side salad, dinner, lunch, healthy meal, goat cheese, arugula, pecans, olive oil