Roasted beet and apple salad

Before you make this salad, do yourself a favor and go out and pick up some goat cheese, it will put it over the top.  This kind of turned into a "I have 3 pounds of roasted beets, what should I do with them?" situation, and I kind of hate lettuce but I buy it anyway, then remember I don't like it.  Issues, I tell you.

• A few handfuls of romaine lettuce (or whatever lettuce you like), chopped
• 1 cup of roasted beets, diced (if you've made your beets ahead of time, toss them in some coconut oil in a skillet and warm them up a bit)
• 1/4 of a Granny smith apple, diced
• 1/2 of a roasted red onion*, sliced
• 2T chopped pecans

Dressing:

• 2T red wine vinegar
• 1T olive oil
• 1t dijon mustard
• 1t lemon juice
• Salt & Pepper to taste

How are you going to roast the red onion, you ask?  Simple.  Take a whole red onion, thinly sliced, and toss it with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and roast at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.  Remove and toss in 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar.

In a large bowl combine all of your ingredients and if you're nice, this will serve two.  If you're selfish and hungry (and live alone like I do), this will make one big salad.  The flavor of the roasted beets paired with the crisp apple and mellow onions are kind of awesome.

Hot Dog Salad

The original recipe came courtesy of Rachael Ray, but thanks to me not having some of the items (granulated sugar, cabbage, yellow mustard) I decided to improvise it and make it more paleo-friendly (although the original recipe is pretty close!).

My version came out pretty good, the dressing was tangy, but not too tangy, and the addition of the sauerkraut really helped add some flavor.  I didn't even realize that the original one called for salt and pepper, but I don't think you need it.  As far as the hot dogs, I used Coleman Natural Beef Hot Dogs, no added chemicals :)  Although you might want to rinse them off first, they were kind of goopy, gross.  My recipe is below:

Hot Dog Salad (Serves two)

Dressing:

• 2 tablespoons deli style mustard (I just had the brownish, tangy stuff on hand, but you can use yellow mustard too)
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

In a small bowl, whisk the above ingredients together until blended.  Set aside.

Salad:

• Romaine lettuce (I just used up the little I had left, maybe 2 loose cups, shredded)
• 1/4 red onion, sliced thin
• Banana peppers (just toss in what you think you want)
• 1 cup sauerkraut, drained
• 1 tomato, sliced
• 4 hot dogs, sliced

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients but the hot dogs.  In a skillet over medium heat, arrange the hot dogs in a single layer (you can cook these in two batches as well) and cook until browned on both sides.  Drain on a paper towel and add to bowl and toss with salad.  Top with dressing and enjoy!

Brussels Sprouts salad

So, now that I'm embarking on my 30-day "paleo/primal-ish" challenge, that means lots of new recipes and lots of cooking.

I found this recipe over at Pinch My Salt and after making a couple of changes to it, it's almost 100% paleo!  I didn't have walnuts on hand so I used chopped pecans, as well as substitute coconut oil for the brown sugar and okay, I did use a packet of Truvia just to add a little bit of sweetness to it.  This was the second time I've cooked with Brussels sprouts and I just had a bite to check it, but I have to admit, it was pretty good!

Brussels Sprouts salad (adapted from Pinch My Salt)

•  2TB apple cider vinegar
• 1 packet Truvia (optional)
• 1TB coconut oil
• 1TB EVOO
• 4 slices thick cut bacon
• 1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed, outer leaves peeled and shredded/sliced
• 1/2C chopped pecans
• Salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl, mix vinegar, sweetener, coconut oil and olive oil together and set aside.

In a large skillet cook the bacon, and when finished, place on a paper towel to drain the excess grease and crumble into pieces.  Reserve 1-2TB of the bacon drippings and add Brussels sprouts and cook for 3-5 minutes over medium high heat or until tender.  Remove from heat and add the bacon, pecans and dressing and stir for a minute until combined.  Season with salt and pepper.

Healthy summer salad

I'm trying to get more veggies in, but lettuce isn't exactly my friend sometimes (and a lot of it goes bad before I make my way through a head of it), so I'm trying more lettuce free salads. And one of my clients gave me some homegrown cucumbers, and my tomato plants are exploding in my garden, so it's perfect for salad! But, trying to get my protein in too, so I came up with this simple and yummy salad.

• Cherry tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Hardboiled egg
• Goat cheese (or whatever cheese you may have on hand)
• Greek dressing

Mix and enjoy!