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Thursday, April 7, 2011

Spring Fiesta Salad



It is above 60 degrees today in Minnesota and I am loving it!  It is nice to be able to get out for my post work stress relief walks and enjoy the sun again!  The fact that it is so nice calls for a celebration!  Well, celebration in the form of a pretty salad at least.  So, I raided my fridge to find the most colorful veggies I could and got to work composing one!  What I found was a golden beet, some red (purple) cabbage, and some orange carrots.  But let's not forget the green, I added a bit of cilantro as well.  With the cilantro the salad was taking on a southwestern or mexican theme so I decided to go with it and give it an agave lime vinaigrette laced with garlic, cumin and chipotle. 


The salad looked like a fiesta, as if someone had tossed a bunch of ribbons and confetti in different colors together.  But it needed something to finish it off.  So I added some golden raisins for sweetness as well as some sweet and spicy pepitas I had on hand and then it was perfect!  Incredibly refreshing and delicious and the perfect accompaniment to some bbq tofu I had also made.  Here is the recipe if you would like to enjoy some for yourself!


Spring Fiesta Salad
(Beet, Carrot, and Cabbage Salad with Sweet and Spicy Pepitas and Golden Raisins)
Serves 1-2

 Nuts:
1/2 cup pepitas
1 Tbsp agave nectar
1 Tbsp maple sugar
1/4 tsp ground chipotle powder
1 tsp sea salt

Dressing:
2 Tbsp lime juice
2 tsp agave nectar
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp sea salt or to taste
1/8 tsp ground chipotle, or to taste
1 garlic clove, minced

Salad:
1 cup golden beets, very thinly sliced (paper thin)
1 cup carrots, very thinly sliced (paper thin)
1 cup red cabbage, very thinly sliced
2 Tbsp minced cilantro
1/4 cup golden raisins

To make pepitas, preheat oven to 375 degrees line a baking sheet with foil, and spray with non-stick spray.  Toss pepitas together with agave, sugar, chipotle and sea salt, then spread out on the baking sheet and toast until nuts are starting to lightly brown and are fragrant, about 10-15 min.  Remove from oven and let cool.  In a small bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients.  In a large bowl, combine veggies and cilatro and pour over dressing.  Toss well to coat.  Place salad on a serving plate, and sprinkle  with pepitas and golden raisins. 

8 comments:

  1. Love the colors in this salad! It's so fresh and delicious too!

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  2. Wow Amy this is vibrant,healthy and I can only imagine how good this tastes. Kudos to you!

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  3. This looks great! Love the colours!

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  4. Ooooh party in my mouth!! Looks so pretty and lovely, Amy!

    xx,
    Tammy

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  5. This is beautiful! Definitely gotta try it ;)

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  6. So many wonderful, vibrant colours. After such salad you can really feel like spring coming to town :-) Great!!!

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