I know it sounds like an odd combination but this incredibly simple salad of steamed beets, diced apples, purple grapes, mellow green onion, dressed with walnut vinaigrette, will definitely land on my dinner table again! Be sure to read the options, this salad is so versatile you can make it with your own signature.

• 2 cups beets (red and/or golden), steamed and cubed OR cut shoestring style OR organic canned shoestring beets
• 2 cups red grapes, halved
• 1 medium green apple, chopped OR cut shoestring style
• 1/4 cup green onion, very thinly sliced
• Juice of 1/2 to 3/4 lemon
• 1 TB walnut oil
• 4–5 TBS walnuts, finely chopped
• Veganaise or Mayonnaise to taste
• Approximately 1 TB (or to taste) Powered Sugar or Natural Powdered Lakanto Sugar

Combine ingredients in a bowl and chill at least two hours or preferably overnight. Season with salt to taste.

Options

• After refrigerating to blend flavors, you can toss with arugula or baby spinach.
• Toss with goat cheese chevre or other crumbled cheese.
• You can add very small pieces of orange or pink grapefruit.
• To add protein, cook quinoa, cool and toss.
• Pine nuts are a delicious substitute/choice to replace walnuts.

Health Benefits of Beets

• Beetroots, commonly known as beets, are a popular root vegetable used in many cuisines around the world. They come in both the red and golden varieties.
• Beets are packed with essential vitamins, minerals and plant compounds, some of which have medicinal properties backed by science. What's more, they're delicious and easy to add to your diet.
• Beets boast an impressive nutritional profile—listed below.
• They're low in calories, yet high in valuable vitamins and minerals. In fact, they contain a bit of almost all the vitamins and minerals you need.
• They are credited in natural medicine for assisting to detoxify, especially the liver.
• Beets also contain inorganic nitrates and pigments, both of which are plant compounds that contain various health benefits.
• Studies show that beets can significantly lower blood pressure over a period of only a few hours. The benefits recorded are greater for the systolic blood pressure rather than the diastolic.
• Several studies suggest that dietary nitrates, like beets, help enhance athletic performance. Nitrates appear to affect physical performance by improving the efficiency of mitochondria—responsible for producing energy in your cells.
• Beets contain pigments called betalains, which potentially possess a number of anti-inflammatory properties.
• Beetroot juice or extract have shown to reduce kidney inflammation when tested on rats injected with toxic chemicals.
• One cup of beetroot contains 3.4 grams of fiber. Fiber bypasses digestion and heads down to the colon, where it either feeds the friendly gut bacteria or adds bulk to the stool.
• The nitrates in beets may improve mental and cognitive function by promoting dilation of blood vessels and therefore increasing blood flow to the brain.
• The antioxidant content and anti-inflammatory nature of beets have led to an interest in its ability to prevent cancer. In animal studies, it showed reduction and growth of
• prostate and breast cancer cells.

Here is an overview of the nutrients found in a 3.5 ounce (100 gram) serving of cooked beetroot:

Calories: 44
Protein: 1.7 grams
Fat: 0.2 grams
Fiber: 2 grams
Vitamin C: 6% of the RDI
Folate: 20% of the RDI
Vitamin B6: 3% of the RDI
Magnesium: 6% of the RDI
Potassium: 9% of the RDI
Phosphorous: 4% of the RDI
Manganese: 16% of the RDI
Iron: 4% of the RDI

Beets also contain inorganic nitrates and pigments, both of which are plant compounds that have a number of health benefits.