Hearty marinated red beets, falafel and tahini dressing

And I am addicted...to marinated red beets. Thank you to my friend Hanna for introducing me to this simple yet so tasty way of preparing one of this seasons top layers.

So here is a quick summary on red beet's and their nutritional benefits; They are detoxifying due to their high antioxidant content and their anti-inflammatory capacity. Their red colouring has much to do with these benefits. The longer you cook, steam or roast the beets the more of their nutritional value is lost. The best is to eat these raw but as winter approaches I tend to levitate towards warm food.

This way of marinating red beets can be used for various dishes. Hanna even recommends them in a sandwich with grilled halumni cheese or even feta, yum! I bet it will blow any burger away.

Ok so here it is, the marinade:

- 2 red beets (cooked or steamed)
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar (or white/red wine vinegar)
- a generous pinch of salt
- 1/2 tbsp ground cumin

That's it! Whisk the marinade together and then add your cooked/steamed red beets while still hot and  mix around. Allow to sit for 10-30minutes.

As for the rest of the dish, I served the red beets with falafel, a mix of millet and quinoa (they have about the same cooking time, so I just cook them in one pan), spinach and the tahini dressing.

The tahini dressing is simple:

- 1,5 tbsp tahini paste/butter
- 0,5 tbsp water
- juice form 1 lemon
- 1 tsp tamari alternately soy sauce
- small drizzle of honey or maple syrup

This dressing is also awesome drizzled over steamed broccoli or cauliflower or a soba noodle salad.

Red Beet, Courgette Cake

This cake is a perfect afternoon pick me up cake. You can replace the red beet for carrot and the courgette for banana.

Ingredients:
1 medium sized red beet
1/3 courgette
1 small apple
2 dl sugar (I used palm sugar)
pinch of salt
1 dl oat flour
2 tbsp baking powder
2 dl white unbleached spelt flour
1 dl flaxseed flour (blend flax seeds in a blender till you have a sort of flour)
3 eggs
80 grams coconut oil
1 dl sunflower seeds

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180 C
2. Use a blender to mix the eggs and the sugar, till fluffy
3. Peel the red beet. Grate the red beet, courgette and apple
4. Melt the coconut oil on a low heat
5. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl
6. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the egg mix
7. Then add the cool coconut oil
8. Now add the grated vegetables and blend
9. Grease a cake pan and dust with flour
10. Pour the cake batter into the form and sprinkle the sunflower seeds over the top
11. Bake in the middle of your oven for 45min - 1 hour, depending on your oven. test by sticking a fork or knife into the middle of the cake, it should come out dry and not covered in dough. 

Sprouted beans, quinoa and beet salad

This is a luke warm, healthy feeling, autumn salad. Packed with good nutrients and fibers. The nice thing with this salad is you can vary it using carrots instead of red beet, coriander in place of parsley. You can add roasted nuts, like walnuts pr pine nuts or pecans. Feta can be added or avocado for a touch of creaminess. Protein such as smoked tofu, tempeh or tinned tuna or fried chicken file.

Also the dressing can be exchanged simply by replacing various vinegars with the tamari sauce.

Ingredients for 2 people:
1 red beet // 2 medium carrots
1/2 endive
handful fresh parsley
2-3 stalks fresh dill
1,5 dl quinoa
Sprouted beans

Dressing:
Juice form 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp tamari sauce
1 tsp dijon mustard
1,5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

* Sprouted beans can be brought at general health food stores. These can alternately be replaced with other sprouts or even non sprouted cooked beans.

1. Wash the red beet or carrots Cook the red beet or carrots till al dente. Keep the skin on. Drain and cool by running under cold water. You want it warm but not steaming hot. Once cooled slightly you can easily peel off the skin of the red beet. Chop into bite size.
2. Cook the quinoa as per the instructions on packaging.
3. Slice the endive into bite size pieces.
4. Chop the dill and parsley.
5. Now mix all the ingredients for the salad in a bowl.
6. For the dressing first whisk the mustard, lemon juice and tamari. Once combined add the olive oil.