Let me introduce you to my new friend Beh. Beh is from Burma and she’s a farmer. She is one of the refugee farmers participating in New Roots for Refugees CSA (community supported agriculture) program. Every Saturday, she hands over a bag of the delicious vegetables and herbs she’s grown to our family and other families to enjoy. It’s wonderful! I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to take the CSA plunge. Every day, I get to decide on swiss chard, beets, turnips, broccoli or a little bit of everything. It’s wonderful.
My most common answer when someone in class or a friend asks what I eat is that I try to eat real food! Something that’s come out of the ground or from a tree branch is a pretty good start. And then if you’re eating meat, try to make sure that those animals grazed on real food too — not corn filler, hormones or antibiotics. A CSA is a great way to sample many different kinds of vegetables and because you’ve committed to getting veggies each week, it forces you to get in there and try new recipes. There. That’s my soapbox. So, back to Beh and her wonderful bags of goodies. My husband has been laughing at me because I’m becoming impromptu chefgirl with all of these yummy veggies…Lately, I’ve been loving my spinach and beets. Here’s a simple salad that take a little bit of prep time with the beets – but then it’s easy & quick after that. Enjoy!
Spinach, Beet & Walnut Salad (serves 2)
4 cups of spinach
1 cup of beets boiled until tender, then peeled and sliced
1 carrot sliced
1 clove garlic minced
2 slices red onion
2 handfuls of walnuts
1/4 cup of light vinaigrette
Tips: When boiling the beets, clean them and remove the greens but leave the stem and tip on and don’t peel them. If they’re small, they should cook in about 30 minutes. Bigger ones may take larger. After they are cooked I peel and slice them. I like them on salads warm and also cold – your call.
For more protein, you could add a sliced hard-boiled egg or a 1/2 cup of cooked quinoa.
I have an abundance of beets from our CSA right now and think that I will cook them up to have on hand for salads. Thanks for the idea.