Crisp, fresh red beets and green apples with a tart apple cider vinegar dressing. This salad is beautiful, vibrant, and sure to be a crowd pleaser during beet season.
I bought a bulk bag of beets this week!
Consequently, I knew I had to feature a beet recipe on the blog (as they’re also in season!). In typical fashion, I ventured to Pinterest for a little bit of inspiration and to see what new and innovative dishes my favourite food bloggers had created. Lo and behold, I was totally inspired by this recipe from The Endless Meal. Beets, apples AND mint! Now this is an idea that I can seriously get behind.
I changed up the proportions a little bit to accommodate the ingredients I had on hand. I nixed the cumin and added in some pumpkin seeds for an added crunch (and a little extra protein). In my opinion, a salad is never quite a salad without some nuts and seeds sprinkled on top.
Reducing Food Waste at Home
Now I want to talk a little bit about how I design recipes for you to make at home. Reducing food waste is something that I work on in my own kitchen each and every day. Consequently, I try to design my recipes so that you can do the same.
When I’m cooking from a recipe that isn’t my own, I always try and re-jig the proportions so that I use up all of my perishable ingredients. For example, this recipe calls for 2 cups of grated carrots. However, when you’re making it yourself at home, you might find that you’ve grated two cups of carrots but have a half carrot leftover (because F&V come in all shapes and sizes!). Trust me, I know that straying away from a recipe can be a little bit scary. However, instead of tossing that carrot in the garbage, I urge you to be brave and throw it to the salad (or eat it as a pre-meal snack).
We live in a time where food waste is getting out of control but yet so many people in the world go hungry every day. Use up all of your perishable ingredients when cooking a recipe (mine including), instead of throwing them away. Let that piece of extra carrot or beet nourish you, and not the garbage. I promise you that for most recipes, an extra carrot isn’t enough to make or break it. That’s the beauty of cooking – we can customize it every step of the way to meet our needs.
So, generally, my recipes are designed to allow for a little more of this and a little more of that.
Baking is a bit of a different story, but lets save that for another time 🙂
Serves 7 cups
Crisp, fresh red beets and green apples with a tart apple cider vinegar dressing. This salad is beautiful, vibrant, and sure to be a crowd pleaser during beet season.
25 minPrep Time
25 minTotal Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 3 cups grated raw red beets
- 2 cups matchstick-style carrots*
- 2 cups matchstick-style green apples*
- 1 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped finely
- ½ cup roasted, unsalted pumpkin seeds
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ tablespoon honey
- ½ teaspoon dijon mustard
- pinch of pepper
Instructions
- In a large salad bowl, add the grated red beets, matchstick carrots and matchstick apples. Sprinkle chopped mint leaves and pumpkin seeds over top.
- In a separate small bowl, combine all dressing ingredients. Toss the salad just before serving.**
Notes
*"Matchstick" means that the apples and carrots are cut to look like matchsticks - long, skinny pieces that are uniform in length. If you have a mandoline, I would definitely recommend using it. If you don't, just cut your carrots and apples so that they are all approximately the same size. Or get creative with it and use different shapes altogether! **Once you toss the salad, the vibrant pink colour from the beets will turn the rest of the ingredients pink. Toss just before serving to maintain the presentation of bright, contrasting colours.
This recipe was inspired by The Endless Meal.
