Keep The Beet Salad

I love beets.  Aren't these just gorgeous?  I'm drooling just thinking about them.  I don't eat them too often, they aren't a favorite with the rest of the family, but every once in a while these thick skinned, rooty vegitables call to me.  At the farm stand the other day I noticed a big bowl of them for sale and I just couldn't resist. 

Today, as I was cleaning and cutting them, I was admiring their beautiful color, a deep magenta.  If you like beets, I hope you like that color, because it gets everywhere; on the cutting board, on your hands, on your tongue.  If you eat a lot of them, they will  even turns your poop and pee pink--a great incentive to get a 3.5 year old, who loves pink, to eat them, wink wink.  

Since I posted the picture, above, on my fb page a few people had asked me how I like to cook them.  So, I thought I would share with you one of my favorite beet salad recipes.  I wish I had a picture of how pretty this salad really is, but alas, I got carried away by my tummy grumbles and we all sat down to dinner before I remembered to snap a photo.  Regardless, this salad is easy, yummy and keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days.  I usually have it as  a side to a meat dish, like roast chicken.  In the mornings it call me for breakfast and is usually gone by mid afternoon the following day.  FYI, the walnuts can get a little soggy over night, but I have never minded.  If it bothers you, pick them out and toast some more!  Here ya go!

Ingredients:

5 medium sized beets

1 cup of walnuts

1/2 Red onion chopped lengthwise into long slivers

1/2 cup feta cheese

3Tbs of olive oil

1 Tbs of red wine vinegar

Salt to taste

First, cook your beets: (I usually do this in morning so there is sufficient time for the beets to cool down)

-Set oven to 400 degrees.  

-Wash them well, cut the heads and tails off them, you can keep the greens for stewing later.  

-Put beets in an oven proof, airtight, container with an inch of water.  You are going to steam them in there for about an hour.  You will know when they are done if you can stick a fork into the center easily.  
-When they are finished, set them on the counter to let them cool down.  

-Once cooled, you can easily peel off their skins, now they are ready!

Preparing the salad:

-Cut your beets into bite sized pieces, throw them into your salad bowl.

-Toast your walnuts in a medium skillet, or, you can do this in the oven while your beets are cooking (pay attention, they burn easy). 

-Add the walnuts and the onion to the bowl.

-Drizzle the olive oil first then the red wine vinegar on top of your mish mash.

-Add salt 

-Toss salad.

-Once everything is evenly coated crumble your feta cheese over the top and serve!