Rock Your Beets by Chef Liz Arraj

Serves 4

4-6 beets, boiled, peeled and diced
2 apples, diced
2 celery stalks, sliced thin
2 green onions, sliced thin
1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
All your beet greens that come with your beets if in good shape
4 cups Arugula
​
1. To prepare your beets, simply boil them until you can easily insert a sharp knife into them. Cool them down with cold water and while they are still in the water, cut the tops and bottoms off and peel with your hands. Dice and cool all the way.
2. Combine rest of ingredients in large bowl.
3. Create your dressing and toss everything together.
 
Dressing:
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. curry powder
1 TBSP. maple syrup or agave nectar
Whisk or blend well.
 

Tasty Tip:
A fun thing to do with beets; wrap one in aluminum foil and roast until soft. When creating your hummus you can add part of a roasted beet and voila! Pink hummus! 

 Scrumptious Swiss Chard Roll by Chef Liz Arraj

Makes 8 rolls


4 large Swiss chard leaves
1 cup hummus (see Pele's Fire Hummus recipe below)
1 avocado, mashed
Red onion, finely minced
2 carrots, grated


1.  Wash chard leaves well and pat dry, cut rib out so you have two long pieces.
2.  Gently spread hummus and avocado over each leaf.
3.  Sprinkle grated carrot and onion
4.  Roll up and serve!
 
 

Tasty Tip:
An easy trick to get thin slices of avocado; Cut the avocado in half, length ways. Take the pit out by whacking a knife into the center of the pit and twisting it, the pit should come right out. Then cut the bottom of both pieces of the avocado. Holding half of avocado in one hand, take a butter knife in your other hand, and cut your slices down to the hard skin and transfer each slice onto your roll. This way you can not only control how thick your slices are but can also use the butter knife to transfer the avocado. 

Pele's Fire Hummus
2 cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 TBSP. of  tahini
4 TBSP. olive oil
Juice of one lime or one lemon
1 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp. sea salt
2 TBSP. tamari or soy sauce
1 tsp. crushed pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. chile powder
1/2 tsp. chipotle powder
1/4 tsp. cayenne powder
1. Combine all ingredients in food processor and mix until smooth, add a small amount of hot water if needed, taste and adjust until consistency is smooth and easy to scoop with flat bread or vegetables.
2. Serve in shallow dish and garnish with extra olive oil, spices and freshly chopped herbs of your choosing.

June - Recipe #1:

Get Your Greens On
By Chef Liz Arraj

Serves 6

10 cups of your choice of greens:
Kale
Swiss Chard
Lettuce

Chop into bite sized pieces and toss in a large bowl.   
                                        
If you think of your salad like a delicious rainbow here are a few suggestions you could add to your dish; tomatoes, carrots, yellow bell peppers, sugar snap peas, scallions, purple cabbage and even fruit such as apples.   
                      
Rice Wine Vinaigrette:                                                           
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar                                                        
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 cup maple syrup or agave nectar
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. salt

Blend or whisk well. Combine with your greens and toss well, serve right away.
 
Tasty Tip:
An easy way to cut your greens bite sized pieces. Take a stack of leaves ( for kale and collard you want to de-stem them first) and roll them up into a tight roll. Thinly slice the roll. This technique is called chiffonade. Give your strips a few chops and you will be ready to create your salad!