Spring Greens with Roasted Beets, Toasted Pecans & Feta

Spring Greens with Roasted Beets, Toasted Pecans & Feta

This salad makes a light lunch or a perfect starter course for your next dinner party. The deeply flavored roasted beets pair well with the Country Sweet Sauce and the acidic balsamic vinegar/lemon juice combination. The salty feta cheese and toasted pecans add a rich note to this tasty salad.

Serves 4

Country Sweet Vinaigrette Ingredients:

• 1/8 C balsamic vinegar
• 1/8 C Country Sweet Sauce (mild)
• 2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/3 C light olive oil

1. Place balsamic vinegar, Country Sweet Sauce and lemon juice into a glass or ceramic bowl and whisk together.
2. Slowly drizzle the olive oil into this mixture while whisking constantly until it is all incorporated into the vinaigrette.

Salad Ingredients:

• 4 beets
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 tsp. rosemary
• 1 T balsamic vinegar
• 4 C mixed spring greens
• 4 green onions, sliced paper thin
• ½ C pecans, toasted
• ½ C feta cheese, crumbled
• Lemon zest to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Cut tops off beets, scrub well and pat dry.
3. Coat beets with olive oil and sprinkle the rosemary evenly over the oil-coated beets.
4. Cover the bottom of a small cookie sheet with tin foil and place beets on the foil. Cover with a second piece of foil and crimp the foil edges together to form a packet.
5. Roast beets in the oven for 1 hour or until they are done.
6. Let cool, remove the skin from the beets and chop them into bite-sized pieces. Place in a bowl and sprinkle the beets with the balsamic vinegar.
7. Dress the spring greens with the vinaigrette to taste and place an even amount of the dressed greens on four separate salad plates.
8. Divide the beets, toasted pecans, green onions and crumbled feta cheese amongst the four salads.
9. Grate a bit of lemon zest over each salad and serve.