This is an ugly salad.

You know I love a salad. And I don’t really care what it looks like, so long as it goes down easy. We had some beets from CSA, and I really wanted a beet salad. I wanted to roast them, and it was already roasting in the house. But I am a determined girl. So I turned up the AC, and decided to go for it. Except, I’d just read about wrapping up the beets in tinfoil and cooking them for about 40 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

I decided to try that. Now, what happens is: they kind of steam in there instead of roast. I sadly missed that roasted, sort of caramelized flavor they get from roasting, though. However, these were pretty much cooked to perfection (and clean up was way easy). They were also bleeding everywhere and managed to turn everything (including yours truly) pink in the process. Pretty!

I got the inspiration from Use Real Butter, and then of course, I used very little of the recipe, but hey, you know I love giving folks credit.

Here’s what I did:

• ~5 medium beets, sliced
• spinach greens
• sundried tomatoes
• avocado
• corn kernels sliced from 1 ear of corn
• ~1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts
• raw milk cheddar

For the dressing:

• 1/4 cup basil leaves
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• little bit of olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. After slicing your beets, place in tinfoil and wrap up. I placed mine in a pie plate in case any leakage happened. Cook for about 40 minutes. They’ll be fork tender when done.

Assemble the rest of your salad. I went heavy on the beets, and lighter on the other ingredients. So, just adjust to taste.

In a blender (again, I used my Magic Bullet), whip up the salad dressing. Assemble and pour the dressing over. Watch it turn kind of messy looking. Gobble it up. It’s delicious.