Summer Sunshine Salad

After a several-month hiatus, I'm back! True, it's been quite awhile, but I was in Europe for two months (you can check out my travel blog here), and since I've been back I've been getting settled in my new big-girl job. I know, excuses excuses. However, while I have been remiss about keeping up The Home Skillet, I have definitely been experimenting in the kitchen with new ingredients and new flavors! As an avid pinner, I admit I get a lot of inspiration from Pinterest. But somehow I always manage to put my own twist on things. Which brings me to today's post: Summer Sunshine Salad.

Doesn't this just look like a taste of summer sunshine?

Summer is, alas, coming to a close. But we are still lucky to enjoy all the bounty of summertime, like tomatoes, squash, peaches, cherries and all manner of yummy things. With all these fresh, delicious fruits and veggies around, it's a great time to be going through a bit of a lifestyle change, as I am now: eating healthier, being more active and generally making smarter choices for my body.

I got the idea for this salad from Love and Olive Oil, but, as always, I ended up changing things around a little to suit my tastes. It's still chock-full of nutritious summertime goodies.

Summer Sunshine Salad
Serves: 3 lunch or side portions
Calories: 439

Ingredients:
3 golden beets (or ruby if you prefer)
2 large carrots
3/4 cup dry quinoa (or grain of your choice)
1 1/2 tbsp thyme
2 tbsp basil, chopped or cut into ribbons
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 peaches or nectarines
4 oz soft goat cheese
salt to taste

Directions:
1. Peel and chop your beets. This is easier said than done, so be careful with that knife! I chopped them into fairly small pieces.

Not the easiest vegetable to peel...

2. Chop your carrots into similarly sized pieces and add them to the beets on a cookie sheet. The recipe technically calls for 2 large carrots, but all we had was baby carrots, so I made do. As long as everything is around the same size, it's fine.

This is me trying to guesstimate how many baby carrots makes a big carrot.

3. Toss everything with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and give them a good salt.

4. Pop in the oven at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until fork-tender.
5. While those are going, prepare your grain of choice (could be farro, wheatberries, brown rice, cous cous, etc.) according to package directions. I had precooked some quinoa, so I just used that.
6. Once your grain is done, toss it with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, the balsamic vinegar, basil and thyme and salt to taste. Set aside.

Nothing says summer like basil.

7. Now for that sweet, sweet taste of summer: the fruit. You could use either nectarines or peaches, according to your preference or whichever is ripest at the store. I used nectarines, 2 white and 1 yellow. If you're using peaches, you may want to consider peeling their fuzzy skin before adding them to the salad. Then, chop them into 1 inch pieces and add to your bowl of grains.

Look at those beauties!

8. When the beets and carrots are done roasting, add them to the party. Give everything a good toss, and correct seasoning levels if needed.

9. Before serving, crumble some soft goat cheese on top. I love goat cheese, so I was pretty generous with it.
10. Enjoy your big bowl of summer!

All ready to go for lunch tomorrow!

This is a great idea for a lunch to take to work. There aren't really any good places to eat close to my work (your options are White Castle and the Marathon station), so I brown-bag it almost every day. I always try to make sure my lunches are satisfying and healthy, but also have a lot of variety. My parents are on a salad-every-night sort of diet, so lunch is my only time to spice things up. This little taste of summer will be perfect!

What's your favorite summertime food?