Hooray for cherry season!
Cherries are definitely one of my favorite summer fruits. Sweet and tangy, they can go well in both sweet or savory dishes, like this Cherry Beet Salad! And let me tell you, the cherries pretty much make this salad. That whole “cherry on top” phrase is really starting to make sense to me now…This salad was put together with many of my leftovers from my fridge. It was almost a little bit of a “dump salad,” but no “dump” dish has ever turned out this beautiful and tasty. And did I mention that it’s extremely healthy for you too?
Delicate sunflower sprouts are tossed with candy-striped beets, cherries, green lentils, feta cheese, and sliced almonds and drizzled in Balsamic Vinaigrette. I know, it’s pretty much a healthy-foodgasm in a bowl. The colors of these ingredients contrast each other perfectly, making this salad almost too pretty to eat! But..it’s delicious, so like, you gotta eat it…
Sunflower sprouts are used in this salad but can absolutely be substituted for something else. They are sometimes hard to find in your local grocery store. Luckily for me, they sell them at our local farmers markets in Boston. And I am addicted, ADDICTED, to sunflower sprouts. I love them way more than any other sprout. They have the crunchiness that kale and radish or any other sprouts just don’t have. I will finish a whole box in a sitting, just munching on them at my couch, while watching Netflix.
So I obviously chose these sprouts in my salad for a reason…But you can use any sprout or even arugula! Arugula would also go great in this salad. It’s totally up to you what green to use! Go crazy.
This is also a great salad to take to work for lunch as I have also discovered in taking my leftovers with me to the office.
Try my recipe below and let me know how you like it! Ya’ll enjoy 🙂
Cherry Beet Lentil Salad
Ingredients
- 3-4 Small Beets sliced in rounds
- 2 cups Sprouts I used sunflower or Arugula
- 1 cup Cherries pitted and sliced
- 1 cup Green Lentils cooked
- 1/4 cup Feta Cheese Crumbles or more if you're a cheese addict like me
- Sliced Almonds for topping
- Balsamic Vinaigrette for topping
Instructions
- Scrub, peel, and slice the beets into round slices
- Place the beet slices in a medium-sized pot of boiling water
- Cook the beets in the boiling water until they are tender enough to easily pierce with a fork
- Toss the cooked beets with the sprouts, cherries, green lentils, feta cheese in a mixing bowl
- Place salad into serving bowls
- Top with sliced almonds and balsamic vinaigrette
- Serve and enjoy!
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