Roasted Beet, Sweet Potato, Mixed Greens and Shrimp Salad

This is one of our Salads as a Main Meal. It includes roasted vegetables, leafy greens, dressing and shrimp.

To start beets are full of potassium, magnesium, fiber, phosphorus, iron; vitamins A, B & C; beta-carotene, beta-cyanine; folic acid. Beets are excellent for women when pregnant. Vitamins B and iron are need for cell growth.

Beets are good for men as it as good as Viagra if not better. So if you are a man and have a, well you know a hard time, you better start liking beets. Beets are also a purifier for the body helping the liver expel toxins. Beets contain betaine, the same substance that is used in certain treatments of depression. It also contains trytophan, which relaxes the mind and creates a sense of well-being, similar to chocolate. This root vegetable can also lower blood pressure.

Read our post at “Eat and be Healthy” to read about the benefits of sweet potatoes. Link here.

Our salad also has spinach and it has 40% of your daily need of magnesium and an excellent source of more than 20 different measurable nutrients, including dietary fiber, calcium and protein. It helps fight ovarian and prostate cancers. It is good for brain function as well.

The other leafy green is arugula which provides some essential minerals like 32 mg of calcium — needed for strong bones — and 74 mg of potassium, necessary for maintaining stable blood pressure. One cup of arugula also provides trace minerals, with .29 mg of iron — vital in making red blood cells — and .09 mg of zinc, essential for wound healing. Other trace minerals present in arugula include copper, manganese and selenium.

Step 1:

Here is what you will need for Roasted Beet, Sweet Potato, Mixed Greens and Shrimp Salad.

3 beets, peeled, diced and roasted

1 to 2 sweet potatoes, peeled, diced, roasted

3/4 cup pecan pieces, pan roasted

1 lb. shrimp, cooked

6 oz. goat cheese

4 cups baby Spinach

2 to 3 cups Arugula

1/2 cup Mango-Chipotle Dressing

You can either buy a bottle of Kraft Mango-Chipotle Dressing or make your own. Here is a recipe of ours you can try.

Mango Chipotle Dressing

2 Mangoes, peeled, pitted (about 1 ½ to 2 cups)

4 garlic cloves, peeled

2 Chipotle Chili Peppers in adobo, wash peppers and de-seed *

½ cup Olive Oil

¼ cup Vinegar

3 – 4 tbsp. Lemon Juice

2 tbsp. Sugar

¼ tsp. Salt

Place mango flesh, garlic gloves and peppers into a food processor and puree. Next add oil, vinegar, lemon juice and process until well incorporated, about 1 minute. Add sugar and salt; process a few seconds.

Makes about 2 ½ cups

*if too spicy, use only 1 pepper

Step 2:

Now for the salad. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Wash, peel and dice the 3 beets and 1 to 2 sweet potatoes. If the potatoes are small use two. If the potato is medium to large than one is sufficient. Place the diced root vegetables into a large mixing bowl and add 1/4 cup of extract virgin olive oil.

Step 3:

Next sprinkle with salt and pepper. About 1/8 teaspoon each and mix until the vegetables are well coated with the oil, salt and pepper. Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper and even spread the vegetables over the prepared jelly roll pan.

Step 4:

Using a spatula to get all the oil as well. Once you have the coated vegetables spread out place into heated oven and roast for 20 to 25 minutes.

Step 5:

While the vegetables are roasting, heat a large pan over medium heat. Add the pecans and roast them until they smell fragrant, about 8 to 10 minutes. Move them to a plate and set aside.

Step 6:

Now heat a large pan over medium high heat and melt two tablespoons of butter. Once melted sprinkle generously some ground black pepper. Add the shrimp and cook one on side about two minutes and turn and sprinkle with a little pepper. Cook 3 to 5 minutes more. remove shrimp to a plate and set aside.

Step 7:

By this time the vegetables should be done roasting. remove them from the oven and transfer to a large plate to cool. Now that you have have your shrimp, pan roasted pecans and oven roasted vegetables to one side and cooling. Prepare to plate the mixed leafy greens to four plates.