Meatless Mondays: Blood Orange Salad with Roasted Beets, Fennel, and Goat Cheese

Happy Healthy Monday everyone!

This week I decided to make something fun and bright that would keep my ingredient list in season, affordable, and fairly unfussy. Now, I’ve had fruit salad and regular green salad, but I’ve never been much of a fan of putting fruit in my green salad. Aside from that, blood oranges have fascinated me for some time but I’ve never actually tried one before. So I figured, why not kill two birds with one stone by throwing some blood oranges into a salad and starting my week off with a colorful plate that promises to cheer up anyone’s Monday!

Blood oranges share a lot of the same nutritional benefits as conventional sweet oranges, including a healthy dose of Vitamin C, folate and fiber. A distinguishing factor for this particular type of orange is its high level of anthocyanins. Anthocyanins, an antioxidant, are the red pigments that give blood oranges their unique coloration and can also be found in blueberries. It’s antioxidant properties protect our bodies from the damage caused by cancer, heart disease, and it also helps lower LDL or “bad” cholesterol levels in our blood. We’re right in the middle of blood orange season as they are available from December to March. This salad features both blood oranges and naval oranges which will give you a huge nutritional boost, especially in the immunity department with all of that Vitamin C. It is flu season after all, so this is a great way to help set you straight in a healthy way.

Here are the ingredients:

• 1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced
• 2 golden beets, trimmed
• 2 red beets, trimmed
• 2 blood oranges
• 2 naval oranges,
• 1 lemon
• ½ red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsps chopped cilantro
• *2 cups of arugla (not pictured)
• *1 tbsp of goat cheese (not pictured)
• 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
• Several cracks of sea salt and black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS (recipe adapted from Bon Appetit January 2012)

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2, Rinse beets and wrap each in foil while still wet. Place on a rimmed tray and bake for 1 hour or until fork tender. Once done, allow the beets to cool, about 20 minutes.

3. While the beets are cooling, thinly slice the fennel and red onion. You can use a mandolin, but I don’t own one, so I just patiently sliced away with a sharp knife. Set aside.

4. Remove the peels and all the white pith (that white part between the peel and flesh) from all the oranges and then slice between the membranes to remove the segments. Place in a bowl.  Squeeze the juices from the membranes and then squeeze the juice from the lemon.

5. Peel the skin off the beets. Take two beets, one golden and one red, and thinly slice across. Cut the remaining two beets into wedges. Toss together with the oranges.

6. Add the onions and fennel to the bowl with the beets and oranges.

7. Toss in the arugula and goat cheese, drizzle the olive oil over top and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix everything together and let it sit for several minutes to allow all the flavors to meld.

8. Taste for seasonings. Serve. Enjoy!

Sweet from the oranges and beets, tangy from the goat cheese, and peppery from the arugula and onions; this salad has it all. Plus its got loads of color (and nutrients) which cheers me up, especially on a Monday. If you’re looking to take your salad up a notch without having to add any meat, then definitely give this one a try. 🙂

What are your favorite kinds of salads? Do you like adding fresh fruit to the mix or do you prefer keeping them separate? Drop me a line!