Beans, Beets, and Bleu Salad

No doubt about it, I love salads! I particularly love my Green Bean Salad; it is perfect for summertime. With our mid-summer heat and humidity, I was craving that salad today. I was out of tomatoes, so started thinking about other things that would pair well with green beans. I was looking for a variety of colors, a variety of tastes, a bit of crunch, and a pungent bite. I got all of those things in this salad that I call Beans, Beets, and Bleu Salad -- an amazing blend of tastes, textures, and color, along with a wallop of nutrition. It makes an excellent main dish salad, or a wonderful side salad, and pairs particularly well with grilled meats. Give this a try, and see if it doesn’t become one of your new favorite salads as well.

Beans, Beets, and Bleu Salad

1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed and halved
1 9-oz. pkg. Melissa’s Steamed Golden Beets
1/2 cup walnut halves
1/2 cup Melissa’s Dried Tart Cherries
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup bleu cheese crumbles
Your favorite vinaigrette

Blanch beans in boiling water for five minutes. Drain, rinse, and plunge into ice water to stop the cooking process.

While beans are cooking, rinse and quarter beets and chop onion.

Place all ingredients into a large mixing bowl, toss with dressing, and serve.

PRINT RECIPE

If you lack the adventure to try beets in a salad, give this version of Green Bean Salad a try.

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Tart Cherry and Almond Scones

If you are a scone lover like I am, always searching for the lightest, most delicate, deliciously flavorful recipe, your search has ended.  These scones are the best you’ll ever taste, and perfect for serving your family, sweetie, or special someone (even if that happens to be you!) for Valentine’s Day breakfast.  This is easily done because the dry ingredients need to be made a day ahead.  To give them their delicate crumb, be sure to use nothing other than cake flour.  To ensure that your cherries are fresh and moist, be sure to look for Melissa’s.

Tart Cherry and Almond Scones

2 cups sifted cake flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 3-ounce package Melissa’s dried tart cherries

1 medium egg

1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring

1/3 cup heavy cream

Sanding Sugar

Heavy Cream

In the work bowl of a food processor, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter.  Pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix in dried cherries.  Pour mixture into a Ziploc® bag and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle.

Empty contents of bag into a large mixing bowl.  In a small mixing bowl whisk together egg, cream, and almond flavoring.  When thoroughly blended, pour it over the flour mixture in the large bowl and fold until it just comes together.  Add 1-3 more teaspoons of cream, if needed.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. With floured hands, press into a 1/2 inch thick rectangle. Cut out rounds with a 3” biscuit cutter and arrange 2 inches apart on a Silpat-lined baking sheet. Gather scraps together and cut out additional scones.

Brush tops of scones with cream and sprinkle liberally with sanding sugar. Bake scones, rotating baking sheet halfway through, until edges are golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on a rack before serving.

Makes 6.

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