**First off, I’m honored to share that Dr. Frank Lipman has featured my recipe for Gluten-Free Quinoa Pizza in his Gluten-Free Recipe Round-Up: Best Pinterest Recipes of 2012!! I noticed a couple of months ago that I had been getting a lot of views on my site from Pinterest thanks to a repost by Dr. Lipman. This prompted me to do some research and I instantly fell in love with Dr. Lipman’s philosophy! He takes a holistic approach to health; he stresses that health is not just the absence of disease, it’s a combination of physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social well-being. I couldn’t agree more!! Click here to check out all of the amazing recipes included in his roundup or to browse Dr. Lipman’s site and learn more about his fascinating approach to health.
Now, on to the recipe…
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I’ve become even more cheesy and sappy than usual–I didn’t think it was possible!
As I was cleaning out the kitchen drawers over the weekend, I stumbled upon heart and star-shaped cookie-cutters. The odd thing is, I don’t even remember buying them. But, the fact that I found them so close to Valentine’s Day seemed like a sign from the food gods that I needed to put them to good use. I had already planned to make my new favorite salad with roasted beets and sweet potatoes, so I opted to cut the veggies into adorable hearts!
I know it sounds silly, but they tasted even better this way!!
Heart-shaped veggies or not, this salad is amazingly tasty! I’ve been intentionally making extra roasted beets and sweet potatoes as well as dressing to keep in my fridge so that I can toss everything together in a flash when I want an easy and delicious salad. You can use any kind of beet (although red beets may be pretty messy and will turn the other salad ingredients hot pink, too–but there’s nothing wrong with a hot-pink salad!) I used beautiful chiogga beets in the picture above and I love the various colors that pop in this beautiful salad!
- 1 small sweet potato, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 large or 2 small beets (I used chiogga beets in the salad pictured above), peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
- ½ Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt and pepper, to taste
- 4-6 cups (or more) of mixed salad greens
- 1 leek, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
- 1 avocado, sliced in half, pit removed, and sliced into thin slivers
- a handful of pecans, roughly chopped
- 1 orange, juiced
- ¼ tsp. orange zest (plus more for decoration)
- 1-inch piece of fresh ginger
- 1 Tbs. EVOO or sesame oil
- a few drops liquid stevia (or 1 tsp. honey)
- ¼ tsp. sea salt
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Toss the sweet potatoes and beets in a bowl with the olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread the veggies out on the baking sheet and bake in the oven for approx. 30 minutes, turning the veggies halfway through. The veggies are ready when they’re cooked through (you may need to watch them closely to make sure that they’re not over-cooked). Allow the roasted veggies to cool before tossing with the other salad ingredients.
- Plate the salad greens and top with roasted veggies, leek, avocado, and pecans.
- To make the dressing, mix the orange juice, zest, ginger, oil, stevia, and sea salt in a food processor or blender until smooth. Pour over the salad and top with remaining orange zest.
- Serve and enjoy!
*I’ve submitted this recipe to Gluten Free Fridays and Healthy Vegan Fridays
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Oh, this looks so lovely! I’m all about using cookie cutters (I do have a four year old!) and it often helps my picky eater try new things. As a baby she adored sweet potatoes but no longer. Maybe hearts will help!
-Dana
Ha, there’s nothing better than tricking kids into eating healthy food
By the way, I am so appreciative of your creative and tasty salad dressings! I have zero creativity with dressings and your ideas really perk up my salads.
-Dana
Thank you!! I get bored easily so I’m always experimenting…I’ll admit though, I’ve had a lot more dressing failures than successes. I only share the few good ones on A&A ☺
I always love every recipe I try from you! Thanks for making raw vegan eating so delicious and easy!
Oh so cute! I can’t wait to make this for my hubby on valentine’s day.
Thanks for sharing.
And congrats on the recipe feature – you totally rock =)
ps. food definitely tastes better when it is in cute shapes!
Thank you so much! I hope your hubby likes it! Isn’t it fun getting to play with food?!? ☺
This looks so lovely. I am going to try this-maybe even tomorrow as I have a special dinner planned for hubby and me. shhhhh!!!
Ha, awesome…your secret’s safe with me
Looks and sounds delicious! And how cute are those heart-shaped veggies!
Thank you Lindsay
I think this is one of the most beautiful salads I have ever seen! Plus it sounds like it would taste incredible too – so cute
Wow, thank you Lou!! I was like a little kid playing with playdough just going around the kitchen and seeing what I could cut into fun shapes
It was pure luck that it ended up tasting so delish, too!
This is stunning!!! I am featuring it as one of my favorite recipes for Healthy Vegan Fridays this week. xoxo.
Thank you so much Carrie!
What a beautiful salad!! Thanks for the link to Dr Lipmans site!
Thanks for linking up at our Gluten Free Fridays party! I have tweeted and pinned your entry to our Gluten Free Fridays board on Pinterest!
Thanks for linking back to the Gluten Free Fridays post!
Cindy from vegetarianmamma.com
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