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Roasted Beet, Roasted Garlic, Goat Cheese, and Pistachio Crostini

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I know I’m kind of on a crostini kick lately.  Today just seemed like the perfect time to share this Roasted Beet, Roasted Garlic, Goat Cheese, and Pistachio Crostini.  We’re just days away from the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, so in my world this works for both!

 

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It’s such an exciting time right now because we have this awesome Valentine’s Day $1000 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway happening – use the Rafflecopter below to enter!  And be sure to check out all the other fantastic recipes my blogger friends have made – the links are below the Giveaway details. GOOD LUCK!

 

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And we’re just days from Super Bowl 50!  This roasted beet crostini is a lovely and colorful appetizer idea for a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner AND it’s a perfect Super Bowl food for the big day.  I mean, seriously, it’s not a party in our house unless there are roasted beets!  Your veg friends will thank you too!

 

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If y’all are still planning your Super Bowl menus, be sure to check out these game day roundups that totally have you covered!  There’s something here for everyone!

Karrie from Tasty Ever After has 50 Super Bowl Recipes for Super Bowl 50

Cheyanne from No Spoon Necessary has a Super Bowl Recipe Huddle

Keri from Fashionable Foods has a Healthy Super Bowl Snacks collection

 

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Everyone in Charlotte is super excited for the big game and I certainly hope our Cardiac Cats don’t kill me on Sunday.   #KeepPounding #PanthersNation

Have a great weekend, y’all!

 

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If you’ve never roasted beets or garlic before, instructions can be found Roasted Beets and Mashed Red Potatoes with Goat Cheese and Roasted Garlic.

 

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Seduction Meals – Romantic Apple Rose Tarts

Food Fashion & Fun – Sweet Beet Juice

The Merchant Baker – Valentine Meringues

BBritnell – January Smoothie Roundup

Green Healthy Cooking – Healthy Spelt Oat Cookies

Kim’s Cravings – Easy Cream Cheese Pie

No Spoon Necessary – Champagne Sangria with Blood Orange, Pomegranate, and Strawberry

Tasty Ever After – Preserved Lemon Spicy Margarita

Taste and See – Amazon Giveaway

Just So Tasty – Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Skinny Pot – Large Batch Tasty Fried Chicken

Jar Of Lemons – Chocolate Banana Chi Seed Pudding

 

Roasted Beet, Roasted Garlic, Goat Cheese, and Pistachio Crostini

Roasted Vegetable, Kale, and Quinoa Salad with Clementine Vinaigrette

by 47 Comments

 

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Happy New Year, friends!  How were your holidays?  Did you have an exciting New Year’s Eve and a wonderful New Year’s Day?  Did you have souerkraut, black eyed peas, and greens?  We did.  I do not love any of these things, but I’m not willing to take any chances, so I ate them all.  We need all the luck we can get around here!

 

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Surprisingly, we had just four experiences with stomach bugs, a bit of doggie drama with bathing and furniture eviction, and only one middle of the night holy crap I’m in trouble with the law and need a criminal defense attorney phone call.

I know.  Good times.

 

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And trust me.  I know that it’s totally cliche to start out my first post of 2016 with a salad.  I also know that cliche should have one of those sexy punctuation things over the top, but I’m not technologically savvy enough to figure out how to put one there.  Don’t judge me.

 

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Any-hoo, after all the indulgences I’ve been guilty of giving and receiving, it’s time to add some hearty, healthy detox food to my life.  I actually love the combo of kale and quinoa in a salad.  Throw in some roasted beets, carrots, and BS with a citrus-y dressing, and it’s totally my jam!

 

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We need to be in fighting condition here in the Carolianas anyway ’cause we are 15-1, yo!  Our Cats are headed to the playoffs starting out in our own house!  Woot!

I think we’re all singing Sweet Caroline down here at this point! #keeppounding

 

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It was a bummer to lose to Atlanta last week and kill our undefeated status, but I’m hopeful to see Cam, Greg, Luke, and the rest of my Cats in the playoffs and we’d love to move onto SUPERBOWL 50.  (I don’t understand the Roman numbers and didn’t want to get it wrong).

 

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And now my vacation is over and I’m back at work.  #partysover

 

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Roasted Vegetable, Kale, and Quinoa Salad with Clementine Vinaigrette

Ingredients

  • 3 beets
  • 2 dozen baby Brussels sprouts
  • 5-6 carrots peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 2-3 tablespoons olive oil plus 1 tablespoon for massaging kale
  • 1/2 teaspoon thyme
  • salt and pepper
  • 6 ounces kale chopped into bite size pieces
  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 1/4 cup roasted and chopped chestnuts

Clementine Dressing

  • 2 clementines juiced and zested
  • 2 garlic cloves minced or pressed (via garlic press)
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • pinch each of:
  • tarragon
  • basil
  • fennel pollen
  • salt white pepper
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425
  2. Make individual foil packets for beets, drizzle beets with 1-2 tablespoons olive oil, seal the foil tightly, and transfer to a baking sheet
  3. Roast in oven for 60 - 75 minutes, depending on size
  4. Toss carrots and Brussels sprouts with 1-2 tablespoons olive oil, thyme, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a baking dish, roast for the last 30-35 minutes of the roasting beets
  5. Times will vary according to the size of the vegetables, roast until fork tender or texture of preference
  6. While vegetables are roasting, prepare quinoa according to package directions, spread out on a baking sheet or parchment paper to cool
  7. Toss kale in a large salad bowl with about 1 tablespoon olive oil and salt, and massage into leaves for 5 minutes or so
  8. Combine clementine dressing ingredients in a mason jar and shake vigorously
  9. Add the quinoa to the kale and toss to combine
  10. When vegetables are done set carrots and Brussels sprouts aside to cool slightly
  11. Unwrap beets, peel with a paring knife and cut into 1 inch pieces
  12. Top kale and quinoa with all the roasted vegetables and either toss with dressing or serve with dressing on the side

Roasted Beets – Homegrown!!

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Y’all, I have the most exciting news!

 

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I grew beets!   No joke! I’m sorry if that isn’t as exciting to you as it is to me, but I’ve never really grown anything but basil.  Oh, and a couple of serrano peppers for Chris.  And you’ve met me, right? I LOVE and totally HEART beets!

 

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I also grew some random tomatoes.  The tomatoes that are growing best in my garden right now are not actually in my garden.  They are growing by the side of my house where I tossed some unattractive tomatoes last summer.  Now the’re ginormous plants with green tomatoes all over them ready to explode into a welcome invasion of red tomatoes that I’m not sure what in tarnation I’ll do with.

 

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So yay me for growing some beets!  I kept them true to their best flavor and roasted them.  Then I just tossed them with some basil and balsamic and put them in a bowl.

 

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I’m glad I did.

 

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Roasted Beets – Homegrown!!

Ingredients

  • 8-10 beets
  • 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 10-12 basil leaves
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425
  2. Individually wrap each beet in a foil packet drizzled with olive oil - the beet not the packet 🙂
  3. Roast for about 1 hour, depending on size, let cool
  4. Peel, then dice, slice, cube, or whatever floats your boat.
  5. Toss in balsamic
  6. Garnish with basli

Roasted Beet and Avocado Bruschetta Salad with Candied Grape Tomatoes and Gorgonzola Vinaigrette

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Home renovations.

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Need I say more?  We have been doing one thing or another around here since last summer. And that’s just on the inside.  Don’t get me started on the new fence coming.

 

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I’m about over it.  We have 4 big dogs, no grass, and tile floors are a necessity.  When we pulled out all the carpet many years ago we kept carpet in the bedrooms.

Big mistake.  Big. Huge.  I have to go shopping now.

 

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Name that movie.

 

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We are having the rest of the rooms tiled this week and they’re supposed to start Monday.  The rooms that should have been done a long long time ago.

 

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Name that song.

 

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That means that we had to spend the weekend moving furniture.  I totally had to throw a hissy fit put my foot down and say two rooms at a time.  Guest room and office first.  Then we can put the furniture back in the guestroom and relocate there while the master and dog rooms are done.

 

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Which means that the majority of our furniture is now in our living and dining rooms and I may have broken my hip, got a hernia, and dislocated my elbow.  Awesome.

 

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So as usual.  Does this crazy rant information have anything remotely to do with Roasted Beet Bruschetta, Avocado and Candied Tomatoes Salad with Gorgonzola Vinaigrette?

 

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Of course not.

 

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But I think you know me enough by now to have figured that out.

 

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Roasted Beet and Avocado Bruschetta Salad with Candied Grape Tomatoes and Gorgonzola Vinaigrette

Ingredients

For the Vinaigrette

  • 1/2 cup tarragon infused white wine vinegar
  • 1/2 cup basil infused olive oil
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup crumbled Gorgonzola
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • salt and pepper to taste

For the Salad

  • 3 large beets
  • 12-15 grape tomatoes halved
  • 2-3 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 or 2 avocados diced
  • 4-6 slices bread French, Italian, baguette, etc.
  • 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2-3 cups Arugula

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400
  2. Combine all vinaigrette ingredients in a Mason Jar, cover tightly with lid, and shake
  3. Add beets to a foil lined baking sheet and bake for about 45 minutes or until fork tender, cool slightly to handle
  4. Add tomatoes to a separate baking sheet covered with parchment paper, generously sprinkle sugar over each one, stick in the oven with the beets and bake 10-12 minutes, set aside
  5. When the beets are cool enough to handle, rub the skin off with a towel or peel with a paring knife, cut into a large dice
  6. Turn on oven broiler
  7. Drizzle toast with olive oil, add to a parchment paper lined baking sheet and broil until toasted, 5-7 minutes
  8. Toss a few handfuls of Arugula on a platter, sprinkle the candied tomatoes around the outside, and arrange the toast pieces in the center.
  9. Top the toast pieces with beets and avocado, drizzle with the dressing
  10. To serve just transfer the toast pieces to plates and top with the salad.
  11. Note: This recipe is super easy and can be adapted for size and taste. I only used 1 avocado when I made this but wished I had another.
  12. Note: If you don't have infused vinegar and/or olive oil just use the plain stuff and add some dried seasonings.