Entree Starter or Side: Candy Cane Beat salad with grilled veggies and goats cheese

Entrée, Starter or Side

Candy Cane Beat Salad with grilled veggies and goats cheese

What you will need:

4 medium sized candy cane beats (these guys are brilliantly pretty)

2 handfuls cheery tomatoes

Quarter white/Spanish onion sliced

1 green zucchini, peeled and thinly sliced

1 yellow zucchini, peeled and thinly sliced

Half a red bell pepper, cut into large chunks or slices

½ Bag of baby spinach

4 large medallions of goats cheese (disk shapes)

3 TBS Olive oil

1TBS cayenne pepper

Salt & Pepper to taste

Dressing of choice *(I used maple balsamic dressing)

Directions:

Scrub down beats with vegetable scrubber, or with clean wet rag. Cut off top and bottom of beat salvaging as much of the body as you can to slice. Slice beats in medium thickness disks so they will withstand boiling without falling apart.

Bring water in a soup pot to boil; just enough water to cover beats (using full pot of water just takes longer to boil and risks boiling over, and hello it’s wasteful!!! J) Add 1 TBS olive oil, Cayenne pepper and salt to taste into water. Boil beats until fork slides easily through flesh or el dente, (*I don’t like eating mushy food) drain away water and fill pot with cold water then set aside on counter or in sink so beats don’t continue to cook.

Heat up grill pan, BBQ, Oven or in my case Panini grill for grilling your veggies. Grill (BBQ or Bake; on baking sheet) onion, zucchini, and red bell pepper, adding 2 TBS olive oil so it won’t stick to Panini grill. Grill for aprox. 10 minutes until Zucchini are almost falling apart.

Arrange clean, dry baby spinach leaves in two pasta bowls or on plates, cut cherry tomatoes in half’s and arrange evenly on top of spinach. Arrange goats cheese medallions (as a whole disks or crumble), then top with warm grilled veggies, and finish with drained cooled beats slices. Finish with the dressing of your choice and pepper to taste.

Something so magical about these guys, like Dr. Seuss, or Willy Wanka invented them.

Layer warm veggies on top of your goats cheese; it melts and blankets your spinach to perfection!

YUM!!!!!

Soup: Italian Minestrone

Soup: Italian Minestrone


Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 35-40 minutes
Skill Level: Beginner 

What you will need:

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 onions, chopped

2 cups chopped celery

5 carrots, sliced

2 cups vegetable broth

2 cups water

1/2 cup red wine (optional)

1 cup canned kidney beans, drained

1 (15 ounce) can green beans

2 cups baby spinach, rinsed

3 zucchinis, quartered and sliced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup seashell pasta (Try Jumbo shells if you like more stuff than broth)

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese for topping

Directions:

In a large stock pot, over medium-low heat, heat olive oil and saute garlic for 2 to 3

minutes. Add onion and saute for 4 to 5 minutes. Add celery and carrots, saute for 1

to 2 minutes.

Add broth, water and tomato sauce, bring to boil, stirring frequently. If desired add

red wine at this point. Reduce heat to low and add kidney beans, green beans, spinach leaves, zucchini, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes, the longer the better.

Fill a medium saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add macaroni and cook el

            dente. Drain water and set aside. (If you want faster preparation cook pasta while you are making soup)

            

            Once soup is heated through add cooked pasta to soup. Ladle soup into individual serving bowls sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top. Drizzle with olive oil, top with chopped basil and serve HOT!