Bright & Beautiful Golden Beet Salad

Another week, another Monday, another Meatless Monday link-up with my co host Deborah. Join us and link up your recipes below and inspire others, stick around and check out what others are posting and maybe you’ll even be inspired.

It’s no secret that I love beets, and good thing my husband likes them too! The girls are hit or miss on them but this one is a winner! There are so many things to love about beets but often the thing that even people two love them don’t care for is how its beautiful bright color stains everything! No worries here as this beet salad is still beautiful and bright because I use golden beets. Raw beets can make a great addition to any salad but their taste needs to be balanced out I think when eating them raw as I am a bigger fan of the taste of cooked beets over raw. Think of it like a potato, most people aren’t fans of raw potatoes. Balancing out the beets I added in carrots, blueberries, oranges, onion, and for crunch cashews! All the flavor and color this salad makes me smile, and it’s good for you! These are the best salads/meals, are the ones that not only look good and taste good (I’m a fan of food that looks as good as it tastes), but make you feel good! Not getting a lot of sunshine during the winter this salad brings the sun to any day.

The girls wanted to get me a mandolin for Christmas and after a lot of research we got one that turned out to be a fail. So back to Williams Sonoma and we got another one that seems to be great, but doesn’t have the grater but I can use my hand one for that. I really didn’t think I needed a mandolin as I have a large food processor and a spiralizer already as well as a hand grater but I hate cleaning out my food processor and hardly use it because of that. My husband thought it would be great for slicing, since more times then not I’m doing a lot, and would cut down on prep time. It does, and the one I got it has a removable blade so it makes for quick clean up and it’s compact. So that’s a win in my book, especially with sweet potato fries as I could be cutting potatoes for hours when we have get togethers in the summer. I decided to use it for this salad to cut the beets as A isn’t a fan of spiralized noodles lately because they are “too long and messy”. You can easily hand cut them, use a spiralizer, or largely shred them. You just don’t want large chunks of uncooked beets.

This salad can easily be made in a batch for a couple of days just packing everything into glass jars and topping with cashews just before eating so they stay crunchy. I just wouldn’t make more than a couple days worth, other than if you wanted to prep veggies ahead and not put with the fruits. As having the fruits and veggies together too long they will soften and you will also lose the nutrition, texture, and it won’t taste that good.

Bright & Beautiful Golden Beet Salad
Makes 4 servings
8 small golden beets
4 large carrots
1c blueberries
3 oranges
1/4c chopped raw cashews
1/2 red onion thinly sliced
sea salt and pepper

Wash and peel beets and carrots. Julienne beets and carrots, about matchstick size. You could also use a large grate. Mix carrots and beets together in a medium bowl. Cut peel away from oranges with a sharp paring knife, slice segments out from membranes and cut segments in half. Or slice orange in half diagonally and using a citrus/grapefruit knife cut segments out. Mix oranges with the vegetables. Squeeze the orange membranes over the mixture to get out the extra juices. Add onion and washed blueberries to the mix and toss. Season with sea salt and pepper to taste. Top with cashews just before serving. Enjoy!
A salad that's healthy and beautiful without skipping a beet! Bright & Beautiful Golden Beet Salad #MeatlessMonday #wholefood Share on X

Sharing the veggie love I’m also linking up with The Fit Foodie Mama, Annmarie for Meatless Monday!