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Beets

Eat The Rainbow Paleo Salad

August 17, 2016
Rainbow paleo salad with fork

Rainbow paleo salad with fork

I know what you’re thinking. Are you seriously going to write a recipe for a salad? Yes. I seriously am. Because I take my salads very seriously. And I really do not understand why they are so underrated as a meal. They’re either the obligatory side dish or a necessary evil in dieting hell.

WHY?

I think it’s because people are making them the wrong way.

What are you putting in your salads? Lettuce. Tomatoes. Cucumber. Ranch. Ugh. That is SO 10 years ago. Where's the color? Where's the variety? Where's the WHOLE REASON we eat salads? To give us one big dose of highly nutritious ingredients all at once. Duh!

Salads – done right – can be showstoppers. In one bite, you can have crunchy, creamy, crispy and kale-y goodness. You can bring ingredients together that normally never associate with each other – for one big party in a bowl. Mango and avocado. Kale and pomegranate. Almond butter and charred broccoli.

Saute a few carrot shreds in coconut oil, caramelize some onions in ghee, add some well-seasoned chicken, juicy ground beef or even a tin of tuna on top, and you’ve got yourself one of the best entrées on the menu, my friends. (Note: I do not mean combine all these ingredients together. That's just silly).

Becasue I am concerned for your relationship with this vital meal, today, I share with you…

The BEST salad I ever made.

No joke. Search this entire blog and I’ve never said that before because it’s a bold claim.

This baby is warm yet cool, crunchy and creamy, melts in your mouth, but with a refreshing finish. And best part, it’s SO full of nutrients. You know how I know why? Because it’s RAINBOW COLORED!

Random flashback moment:

Rainbow Brite flashback.

ANYWAYS.

Where was I? Colors, right. Different nutrients give different colors to the foods they are in. And get this. It's all on purpose. Mother nature planned it that way. GENIUS!

Plants can't get up and walk around, right? So the way they literally spread their seed is by attracting animals and organisms to them with their good looks and vibrant colors. Animal likes what he sees. Animal eats. Animal hops, crawls, runs, or flies away. Animal poops out seeds somewhere else. And tada! A whole new pretty plant. So it's in their favor to stand out and look attractive.

But wait! There's more.

In addition to the pigments looking good, they also can protect the plant from UV damage, enable photosynthesis, and even act as antioxidants for the plants. The better the protection they provide, the longer they live. We humans, in turn, cash in on these benefits when we eat the plants ourselves.

Which brings me back to this beautiful salad. Let's see what we got here…

Red Cabbage
The blue tint in red cabbage (anthocyanins) –> keeps your mind sharp.

Green Kale
The deep green in kale (indoles and isothiocyanates)–> increases the production of enzymes that clear toxins from the body.

Orange Carrots and Sweet Potatoes
The orange in carrots and sweet potatoes (beta carotene) –> keeps your bones strong, your eyes healthy and boosts your immune system.

Crimson in Beets
The dark crimson in beets (Betacyanins) –> works in conjunction with vitamin C and manganese to offer benefits for eye health and overall nerve tissue health in addition to functioning as anti-inflammatory compounds.

Boom.

Forget the weird, unpronouncable words. Just eat the colors! Eat all of them. Red, orange, yellow, green blue, purple. Look out for them at the grocery store. Try weird veggies just because they're colorful. ROYGBV it up!

They're not just good for you, they're just plain GOOD.

You ready for this? I thought so.

Rainbow paleo salad

Ingredients:

  • 2 Heirloom Carrots
  • 1 Small Sweet Potato
  • 1-2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
  • Bowlful of Kale
  • Red Cabbage, chopped
  • Hemp Seeds
  • 1 Tablespoon Beet Dip – See here for beet dip recipe.

Dressing Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions:

  1. Shred one carrot; chop the other carrot. Set aside.
  2. Shred the sweet potato using a vegetable peeler. Don't kill yourself trying to shred the whole thing up. Just get as far down as is comfortable and use the rest of the potato to chop up and saute later if you'd like.
  3. Heat coconut oil on pan and toss sweet potato shreds on. Saute until slightly crispy – 5 minutes-ish. Remove from pan to a side plate.
  4. Add more coconut oil to the pan and toss on carrot shreds. Saute until slightly crispy – 3 minutes-ish. Add shreds to sweet potato plate.
  5. Chop up kale so that it’s in nice bite-sized pieces. Put in salad bowl.
  6. Mix in red cabbage and chopped carrots.
  7. Top with sweet potato and carrot shreds.
  8. Scoop beet dip on top. Note, it's not TOTALLY necessary if you don't have the time to make it, but I highly recommend it. It's kind of what sends this salad over the edge. Might I suggest, too, that you just use sliced cooked beets as an addition if you don't want to make the dip.
  9. Sprinkle with hemp seeds.

Paleo Beet Dip with a lemon wedge

 

Much Love,

http://www.healthystacey.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/HealthyStaceySignature.jpg

P.S. Make it easy on yourself and Pin this baby!

 Eat The Rainbow Salad Pin

Rainbow paleo salad
Eat The Rainbow Paleo Salad
Print Recipe
Rainbow paleo salad
Eat The Rainbow Paleo Salad
Print Recipe
Ingredients
ACV Dressing
Servings:
Instructions
  1. Shred one carrot; chop the other carrot.
  2. Shred the sweet potato using a vegetable peeler. Don't kill yourself trying to shred the whole thing up. Just get as far down as is comfortable and use the rest of the potato to chop up and saute later if you'd like.
  3. Heat coconut oil on pan and toss sweet potato shreds on. Saute until slightly crispy – 5 minutes-ish. Remove from pan to a side plate.
  4. Add more coconut oil to the pan and toss on carrot shreds. Saute until slightly crispy – 3 minutes-ish. Add shreds to sweet potato plate.
  5. Chop up kale so that it’s in nice bite-sized pieces. Put in salad bowl.
  6. Mix in red cabbage and chopped carrots.
  7. Top with sweet potato and carrot shreds.
  8. Scoop beet dip on top. Note, it's not TOTALLY necessary if you don't have the time to make it, but I highly recommend it. It's kind of what sends this salad over the edge. Might I suggest, too, that you just use sliced cooked beets as an addition if you don't want to make the dip.
  9. Sprinkle with hemp seeds.
  10. Pour ACV dressing on top and aggressively mix it all together.
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Healthy Food of the Week: Beets + Beet Green Smoothie Recipe

October 14, 2014

Aw-wee-oo, Killer Tofu!

Eee-aw-wee Iee-oo, Killer Tofuuuu!!!

– Killer Tofu, The Beets

(Please, please tell me one of your recognizes those famous lyrics from one of the best Nickelodeon shows of all time without me telling you the answer).

Ah the beet. The gift that keeps on giving all year round. Even after you’ve put your liver through hell.

The beautiful beet is a high antioxidant vegetable that is amazing at flushing the toxins from your body so that they DON’T reabsorb into your body (a VERY good thing because it allows your liver to work at an optimal level).

The beet is composed of two parts – the beetroot and beet leaf. Both are edible. Both are awesome for you. If you’re like me, you avoided using beets for a long time because they looked a little too complicated to work with. This is a perfectly valid excuse. But just so you know, you CAN get roasted and ready-to-go beets at Marianos, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. All you have to do is slice them up, toss them in a salad, a juicer or some awesomely creative recipe you saw in a magazine. 

These little convenient gems worked great for me until last week when my boyfriend did the grocery shopping and – BECAUSE MY LIST DID NOT SPECIFY (rookie mistake on my part) – he picked up the bona-fide, straight-from-the-dirt beets. When I went to chop one up for my morning smoothie, I was more than a little disappointed to find hard work waiting for me.

HOWEVER, I’d like to thank him now for helping me discover this whole other side of the beet that’s even more nutritious than its root AND is much easier to prepare – the greens. Let’s go to the breakdown.

Part 1: The Beet

Have lots of:  

Nitrates, betaine, vitamin C, fiber, potassium, manganese, B vitamin, folate

Which help you:

  • Relax and dilate your blood vessels, lowering your blood pressure (nitrates)
  • Support liver function (plant flavanoid and beta carotene)
  • Boost your stamina (betaine)
  • Fight inflammation (betaine)
  • Improve stomach acid production
  • Break down toxins and bind to other molecules so they can be excreted from your body

Tastes like:

An earthy but sweet fruit with a juicy peach-like texture

Suggested use:

Baked, boiled, steamed, or shredded raw

(Baking is the best option in my opinion; just wash, wrap in foil, and plop on a baking sheet for 50-60 minutes at 400 degrees)

For storage:

  • Trim the leaves from the root as soon as you bring them home (the leaves will sap the moisture from the root). Do not trim the cute little tail at the bottom of the root.
  • Store them in a plastic bag and put in the crisper drawer for 7-10 days.
  • Cooked beets can be kept for in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Or kept in the freezer for up to 10 months. (Make sure to peel before you freeze).

Part 2: The Beet Green

Have lots of:

Protein, phosphorous, zinc, fiber, calcium, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C – overall, the green has a higher nutritional value than the root

Which help you:

  • Supports healthy skin, bones, teeth and blood vessels (vitamin K and calcium)
  • Strengthen the immune system (vitamin A)
  • Stimulate production of antibodies and white blood cells (vitamin A)
  • See better (Vitamin A plays a role in light absorption in the rods and cones of your retina)

Tastes like:

A milder, sweeter version of kale or swiss chard, but with even more of the nutritional benefits. Awesome sauce.

Suggested use:

Salads, smoothies/juices, soup stock

For storage:

  • Store the leaves in a sealed storage container and use within 3 days.
  • If you keep them in the produce bag with the beet, they will go bad much faster (I speak from experience).

Beet Green Smoothie Supreme Recipe:

I just got a NutriBullet and this concoction was my 5th smoothie attempt. I am not a big fan of adding sugar to my juices, especially because their whole purpose is to serve as a healthy way to start my day (I save sugar for later in the day when I really need it). Problem is, without sugar or honey, many of my concoctions have been less than tasty. THIS is the first time that I truly enjoyed my morning drink – no sweetener necessary. All thanks to those awesome beet greens.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups beet greens
  • 1/2 frozen berries
  • 1/2 banana
  • 1 tablespoon chia seeds
  • 1 tablespoon goji berries
  • 1 cup coconut water

Directions:

  1. Toss all ingredients in a blender
  2. Power it up for about 30 seconds – 1 minute (the goji berries take a bit to get pulverized)
  3. Drink up!

Sources: