Shredded Beet and Jicama Salad

Beets – I love them. I love them roasted, juiced, and in salads, especially shredded. The other day felt balmy compared to the winter we’ve had and I’m already craving crunchy, refreshing salads. Not so surprising since I lived on warm bowls of something for the last few months.

So over the weekend, out of nowhere, I decided to combine shredded beets and jicama, a wonderfully, mild, slightly sweet, and crunchy root vegetable. The texture almost reminds me of a crisp pear. The combination was begging for something citrusy, so I added the last of my champagne-citrus vinegar, some freshly-squeezed orange juice, and sea salt. That was it (almost).

The result was so delicious that I already know what I’ll be eating a lot of this Spring and Summer. Not to mention that I’ll be getting a good arm workout from shredding the vegetables : ) Kidding aside, you can shred them in the food processor if you’d like, but in the time it takes to take it out, set it up, shred, empty, and wash, you could have done it by hand.

I still love my food processor, though. In fact, I used it to make dinner tonight which was a gluten-free pizza with a mustard greens and kale sauce that I love.

But here’s the recipe for the salad:

Shredded Beet and Jicama Salad

1 medium beet, shredded

1 medium jicama, shredded

1 T citrus vinegar

2-3 T freshly-squeezed orange juice

1 T olive or grapeseed oil

sea salt to taste

Combine all the ingredients, chill for 30 minutes or more, then serve. That’s it. Simple and delicious! I had to stop myself from eating the entire bowl.

It went well with a millet cauliflower “potato” dish and sautéed beet greens. I’ll be posting the potato recipe soon!

Jicama, Cucumber, and Citrus Salad

With all the warm, cooked foods I’ve been eating lately, I was in the mood for something crunchy and refreshing. A couple of weeks ago, some friends brought back a couple of nice star fruit for me from their trip to Florida and I decided that a refreshing fruit salad was in order.

Technically, this salad isn’t completely fruit since it includes jicama, a root vegetable often used in Mexican cooking. It has a very mild flavor and a texture that resembles a firm pear. Jicama is low in calories and high in fiber and vitamin C. The star fruit are slightly sweet and a little bit tart and have citrusy notes to them, which makes them incredibly refreshing.

I combined the jicama with chopped cucumber, the star fruit, some diced, dried apricots and chopped basil. The final touch was a citrusy dressing that added a little bit of a zing to the mostly mild flavor of this salad. Since I don’t often buy star fruit, this time of year I would also try oranges as a substitution.

Jicama, Cucumber, and Citrus Salad

1 medium jicama, peeled and chopped into bite-sized cubes

1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped

1 star fruit, orange or other citrus fruit

¼ c dried apricots, chopped into very small pieces

¼ cup mild vinegar, I used an orange, Muscat, champagne vinegar

1 T honey, agave, or maple syrup

2 – 3 T water

a squeeze of fresh lime juice

pinch of sea salt

2 T finely chopped, fresh basil

Combine the jicama, cucumber, citrus fruit, and dried apricots in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the vinegar, sweetener, water, lime juice and sea salt. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well. Stir in the chopped basil. Let sit in the refrigerator an hour or so for the salad to soak up the dressing.