Blogiversary Freebie: Beet Salad Recipe & Lip Balms

I think you are either a beet-lover or beet-hater. I am the former. However, I am not that crazy about making beets because of the mess. And I bake them in the oven for what seems like 6 hours before they are done. Is it just me?

One of my favorite local kid-friendly dining options, Pop, has this Warm Beet Salad that I have had quite a few times. It's got warm beets (go figure), wilted spinach, arugula, bacon vinaigrette, blue cheese and toasted walnuts. I tried to replicate it tonight using a can of beets that's been in my cupboard for an indeterminate amount of time, some gorgonzola we had laying around, spinach, walnuts and some Baco's. It actually wasn't too bad! And the best part is it took me about 6 minutes from start to finish.

Pumpkin Girl Warm Beet Salad:

1 T olive oil
1 can beets, liquid drained out (or go whole hog and make them fresh)
2 - 3 big handfulls of fresh spinach
3 T gorgonzola or other salty tasty cheese (blue, etc.)
1 T baco's
3 T chopped toasted walnuts (to toast, put in oven on 350 until you can smell them)

Put the olive oil in a saute pan and turn heat to medium. When it's warm, throw in the spinach. When the spinach just starts to wilt a bit, through in the beets. Warm the beets and wilt the spinach a few more minutes until all the spinach is wilted. Remove the contents of the pan onto a plate. Trhow the gorgonzola, bacos and toasted walnuts on top. Top with fresh ground pepper if you're fancy. Eat!

Once you've polished off your salad, you might want to reapply lip balm. I know I always do. To celebrate my blogiversary month, I'll be giving away a lip balm prize pack to one lucky person who owns up to their love or hate of beets. Bonus points for recipe pointers.