here is a great looking recipe, you have to scroll down a bit for it. http://www.gardenbuddies.com/forum/messages/4272/1266997.html the pic is on another archived page.

here is another recipe made from 3 colors of beets, scroll down about 1/3 its on the red polka dot plate, recipe is above it.

Here is a link that might be useful: tri color rosted beets

This one of Emily's (Fearlessem) is fabulous! I use baby greens instead of beet greens .

Beet And Beet Green Salad With Feta And Walnuts

Take a bunch of beets with good looking greens. Steam the beets and then peel when they have cooled a little. Prepare the greens as you would any salad greens. Top greens with diced beets, feta cheese, and toasted walnuts, and then add a lemon-juice vinaigrette. Divine!!!
Emily

I love beets! After looking and looking for recipes, I have found that the best way to go is to improvise my own recipes. One thing I do is either steam or roast the beets, then slice them up in a marinade. I make my marinade out of balsamic vinegar (I think you could use cider, I haven't tried it though), a few scallions, honey or maple syrup, olive oil and dijon mustard and dill. I serve this salad on romaine lettuce with either feta or goat cheese, and possibly croutons or toasted sunflower seeds. The reason I can't give exact measurements on the marinade as I adjust it until it suits my taste, so I would recommend doing the same. You can also add steamed green beans to this combo, and/or cukes. Perhaps also orange or apple slices, although this doesn't exactly ring my bell. I have seen this type of salad. Can also sub blue cheese for the feta/goat. The key is creating a nice marinade, and for me, the best way to do that is just to play around with the ingredients in a little bowl until I find something that tastes good to me. The ingredients are vinegar, (balsamic or cider), oil, honey or maple syrup, dijon mustard and dill and scallions.

The other one I poofed the other day was potato-beet salad. I made it with red potatoes, steamed beets sliced, steamed fresh green beans, scallions (could use red onions) with a lemon juice-olive oil and dill dressing. Garnished with feta cheese. Very good, although the longer you keep it, the pinker the whole mess becomes! The dressing I think had the juice of one or two lemons. I know for measuring the lemon to olive oil ratio I filled up the squeezed lemon halves with olive oil, that was a great way to measure a good amount!

thanks for the responses.

lpink - can you give me an idea about how much mustard you used? thanks

maryanne

Mom and I have been working on a creamy beet salad recipe. It's still in its formative stages, but this is what I've got so far...

2 cans sliced or diced beets, well drained.

1/3 rd C. mayonnaise

2 - 3 T cider vinegar

1 - 2 T sugar

Pinch of salt

1/8 to 1/4 finely ground white pepper

1/3 cup dried sweetened cranberries

1/4 C crumbled feta cheese

crispy crumbled bacon as garnish.

1. Drain beets well. I usually drain them in wire sieve for at least 15 minutes

2. In the final serving bowl, mix mayo, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper until sugar and salt are dissolved.

3. Add the beets, feta cheese, and dried cranberries and fold into the dressing.

4. Cover and place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours to chill let the flavors mix.

5. Just before serving sprinkle with feta cheese and bacon.

I'm working on a few variations, including adding a touch of cinnamon to make it more like a pickled egg salad.

I'm also going to try making a more savory salad and adding chiffonaded basil leaves.

I think probably about a TBLSP, depending on how many beets I was planning on covering. I start out small and add more later. Roughly, 2 TBLSP vinegar, 1 TBLSP dijon mustard, 3 or 4 TBLSP olive oil, 3 scallions, and 1-2 TBLSP honey or maple syrup. I use maple syrup which is why I think this recipe is so good. Maybe about 1 tsp. of dried dill. As for the feta, maybe 1/4 - 1/3 cup. Again, depends on how many beets I have. I usually have a bunch of 3-4 beets. I use the stems but save the leaves to just eat steamed with butter and salt.

This is off the top of my head, I've never stopped to measure this and then write down the measurements. It's just my memory of how I do it. I think it is fairly accurate, but then I adjust until it has just the right combo of tastes. I have just found that I like this combo of seasonings in my beet salad.

I've also used bottled raspberry vinagrette to serve over the composed salad.

We like this one by Ina Garten. Naturally you can cook your own beets in place of the canned ones.

Beets with Orange Vinaigrette

Yield: 4 to 6 servings
3 (15-ounce) cans baby beets, drained
2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup small-diced red onion (1 small onion)
2 large seedless oranges, zested
Segments of 2 large seedless oranges

Drain the beets and dice into 1/2-inch cubes. Place the beets in a mixing bowl and add the raspberry vinegar, orange juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and red onions. Zest the oranges and then segment over a bowl to catch the juices. Add the orange zest, orange segments, and any juices and mix well. Taste for seasoning and serve cold or at room temperature.

I made this one earlier this summer and it was really good!

California Beet Salad

1 bunch fresh beets
icy cold water
1 red onion, diced
fresh basil
4 T balsamic vinegar
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T sugar
pinch of black pepper

Cook fresh beets in salted water for 20 minutes or until tender. Rinse beets in icy cold water, cut ends and remove skins. Dice beets, add onion and chopped fresh basil. Combine vinegar, oil, sugar and pepper, whisk teogether. Toss with beets and onion.

man oh man, all these are sounding delicious!
i do have some pine nuts.

lpink, thanks - i wasn't sure if that was supposed to have the mustard as the predominate taste.

i think i'll have to do an eeny, meeny, miny, mo and decide which one to go with this time and save the others for later.

thanks again
maryanne

Well, I'd start by using these other recipes as a guide and only adding the mustard if after I tasted it I thought it needed to be kicked up a notch. I've also never used raspbery vinegar which I think would be really great with beets. That would kick it up a notch. So does using balsamic vinegar.

I can't wait to add these recipes to my repertoire too! I never used to buy beets because I thought they were too much bother, but now that I'm on the "austerity plan" with my food spending, I often find that beets are one of the best values in the produce department. Also, I just plain love them!

Maybe it's just me, but I can't imagine mustard and beets playing well together at all.

Well, it's a tangy vinegar honey dijon mustard flavor, but it is possible that I'm getting this mixed up with my dressing for sweet potato salad. That is very similar except uses cilantro for the herb instead of dill. I guess I'm going to have to get some beets and make this salad again! But first I have to eat up the beet/potato salad I have in the fridge now!
At any rate, leave out the mustard, the balsamic vinegar, maple syrup EVOO combo is still great. I also use that combo on baked acorn squash.

I had a good one in Utah this summer..orange beets and red beets, diced with feta and toasted pecans. There were no greens with this one as it was in an upscale deli to go serving. That worked for me since I took it with me on the way home (in an insulated cooler) and it was delicious to the end.

I think any combo of
-beets
-tangy cheese
-nuts
and a good mild to tangy vinagrette du jour would be a great salad.

Maybe it's just me, but I can't imagine mayo and beets playing well together at all. LOL...says the mayo hater. Different strokes...I'd use the grainy mustard ( a small tsp) with older red beets.

Maureen

Mine is very simple. Just greens, mandarin oranges, sliced beets, and either slivered almonds or candied pecans. Very, very tasty with a red raspberry vinaigrette.
Sherry