When I was a child, I absolutely hated beets. You couldn’t pay me enough to eat them. Hot, cold, whatever—it didn’t matter—I wasn’t eating them. Fast forward about 20 years or so and I love them. Hey, I guess I evolved. My favorite salad is roasted beets, avocado, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. However, my apartment was a tad bit stuffy and warm today and I didn’t want to use the oven. So that’s how a raw beet salad came to mind. I used what I had on hand: two medium-sized beets and a handful of baby carrots. Beets, thinly sliced, along with some carrots, add a dijon mustard, honey, oil/vinegar dressing and bam, a side salad was born. As far as the dressing is concerned, I didn’t really measure it, so below are estimates. I say taste the dressing as you go along and that way you’ll adjust the flavor to your liking.

Raw Beet and Carrot Salad with Dijon, Olive Oil and Vinegar Dressing

• 2-3 Beets, peeled
• Handful of baby carrots
• 3TB Dijon mustard
• 1/4 C Extra virgin olive oil
• 1/b C Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 TB Honey

Wash and then peel the beets, then cut them into quarters and slice as thinly as possible. (Note, I put a paper towel down on my cutting mat, so as to prevent the beets from bleeding onto the mat/cutting board. It helped with cleanup too). Slice carrots and add to beets. Assemble the dressing in a small bowl and use a tiny whisk or fork to combine the ingredients. Then, add the dressing to the vegetables and voila, you’re done. I think that some fennel or perhaps shallots would also taste good in this salad.