sharing my secrets

really great secrets. like, how i got my husband to eat spinach, chickpeas (otherwise known as garbanzo beans), quinoa and beets; all wrapped up neatly into one delicious salad.

this salad is delicious. we've eaten it pretty much every day for over a week. at first, brian was a little wary; he called it "alien salad." but he loves it now. he had three helpings at lunch yesterday!

-salad bowl full of spinach
-couple handfuls of chickpeas
-several spoonfuls of cooked & cooled quinoa
-beets. beets that have been roasted in the oven with a little bit of butter & salt & pepper. cooled and chopped.
(please note that this part of the salad is open to creativity. love chickpeas? add more. crazy about beets? beet to your hearts content. we like it heavy on spinach and beets.)

the salad dressing is a homemade balsamic vinaigrette, a variation of a salad dressing i made for my mama nearly every day growing up...
-3 tablespoons of olive oil
-1 overflowing tablespoon of balsamic vinegar (i love the taste)
-dash of salt & pepper
-a couple garlic cloves chopped up real tiny
-about a teaspoon of dijon mustard
mix it. i usually put mine in a little mason jar and shake it up!

pour over salad, toss, and voila! delicious and intensely healthy.

beets are incredible. did you know eating beets can lower cholesterol, normalize blood pressure and increase the elasticity of arteries? beets have also been know to treat and prevent different types of cancer! but be careful of 'beeturia'. ha! it made me giggle to find out that it actually has a name. look it up.
chickpeas are super high in protein and quinoa has lysine in it, which is needed by the body to grow and repair tissues.
and we all know what spinach does for you, right?




happy eating!