Following a vacation that included 2 Thanksgiving dinners, constant snacking, excessive drinking and enough football to induce reality TV withdrawals I am in desperate need of spinach and beet detox. Enter this salad.
Until recently I had never had beets. I wasn’t even sure what they were. I think beets are overlooked by many people, not only us. Our friends Amanda and Kyle, who we saw over Thanksgiving in California, told us about beets. Apparently it’s a food they eat regularly. Who knew? Also, I’m watching RHOBH (along with The Voice and Teen Mom 2…finally!) as I type and the girls just ordered beet salads in Ojai. Maybe beets are trending right now?
We prepared our beets in a salad along with butternut squash, then we added goat cheese for creaminess, pistachios for crunch and bacon…well because bacon was necessary. It ended up being a colorful salad and I felt good about eating it. Personally, I thought the beets tasted like water chestnuts. They are definitely a food that you can slip into salads and not even realize they’re there. I’m not picturing beets becoming a food that I crave anytime in the near future but I am intrigued enough to try them again and to look for other ways to prepare them.
Here’s what you’ll need
Coat butternut squash in olive oil and lay on a baking sheet
Beets too
Roast for 30 minutes
Meanwhile, pan fry some bacon
Whisk together the dressing ingredients; set aside.
Toss everything together and serve. Nice and light for post Thanksgiving
Beet, Butternut Squash, and Spinach Salad
Ingredients
- 4 cup baby spinach
- 3 slices bacon
- 1 cup butternut squash, diced
- 2 beets
- 1/4 cup goat cheese, broken into pieces
- 1/4 cup pistachios
- olive oil
For the Vinaigrette
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 3 tbsp bacon fat
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- juice of 1 lemon
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. On a large baking sheet toss butternut squash and beets lightly in olive oil. Wrap the beets in aluminum foil. Bake squash for 30 minutes and beets for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool.
- While the beets and squash are cooking, pan fry the bacon slices until crisp. Break bacon into small pieces.
- Whisk dressing ingredients together and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside.
- Once beets have cooled, remove from foil and cut into small pieces. On a serving dish arrange baby spinach, pistachios, bacon pieces and crumbled goat cheese. Add the beets and squash and lightly dress with vinaigrette right before serving.