Golden Beet Salad with Feta

One of my favorite things about coming home to Oregon is getting to go to New Seasons. New Seasons is a local grocery store chain that sells regular and organic gorceries, and they have the best produce department I have ever seen. Everything tastes like it was picked fresh within the hour and is full of intense, rich flavors. They also have a wide variety of produce that you can't find at other grocery stores, like these golden beets. I was walking around the store and saw them out of the corner of my eye. They're remarkably bright and have a beautiful color gradient going from gold to a bright deep red-orange. I love beet salad, so I picked them up to put one together. Not one to be wasteful, I also used the beet greens in the salad too. I'm not a big fan of them raw, but I love how they taste blanched with vinegar. I hope you guys like it too, it's healthy, and the feta and vinegar give it a nice kick!

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Ingredients:

3 Golden Beets, with leaves attached

1/3 Cup Chopped Carrots

1/4 Cup Crumbled Feta Cheese

1 and 1/2 Teaspoons Red Wine Vinegar

1 Teaspoon Olive Oil

1/2 Teaspoon Lemon Juice

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Pepper

Cut the leaves off of the beets and set them aside. Peel the beets with a potato peeler, cut them in half, and place them in a medium-sized pot. Add water until the beets are just covered, then place the pot over medium-high heat and bring the water to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook, covered, for 30 minutes.

Remove the pot from heat and pour into a strainer. Take the beets and cut them into roughly 2-inch cubes. Set them aside.

Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add the beet leaves and cook for 1 minute, then pour into a strainer. Allow the leaves to cool for 10 minutes, then squeeze the excess water out them with your hands. Place them on a cutting board and chop them into roughly 1/2 inch pieces. Place the chopped greens in a medium-sized bowl.

Add the chopped beets, carrots, vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Stir until the vegetables are evenly distributed and they are covered in the dressing. Sprinkle with the feta cheese and serve immediately.