Roasted Beet Salad. Pecans. Balsamic. Citrus. Endive. Twilight.

This elegant Roasted Beet Salad is dotted with buttery pecans, cannellini beans, a few dashes of spicy cayenne, shavings of spicy vegan pepperjack cheese, elegant pointy-fang spears of endive and bitter purple radicchio, plenty of savory greens and a thick, dark balsamic glaze dressing on top.

Yup, one of my guilty pleasures, Twilight. I didn’t even see the first film in theaters, but my husband and I rented it one rainy afternoon and I fell in love with the moody cinematography, irresistible love story, hypnotizing movie score and pure overall entertainment value. Escape from reality? Yes, please! Really, how can you not be fascinated by the Twilight phenomenon? So if you are planning any sort of Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 festivities in honor of the movie opening this weekend, this salad may be just what you are craving…

..and even if you don’t know your Edwards from your Jacobs, you will still love this salad 🙂 ..

..because if vampires ate anything, I am most certain that it would be beets..

Roasted Beet Salad. Aka, “The Bella Special” HeartBeet Salad
serves 1

3-4 small slices vegan pepperjack cheese (I used Daiya Havarti)
2-3 cups baby spinach (or other greens)
1 cup roasted beets (recipe here, or store-bought works too)
1/4 cup pecans, chopped
1/3 cup cooked white cannellini beans, rinsed/drained if using canned (I chilled mine before adding to salad)
1/2 large orange, peeled/sliced into spears
endive + radicchio spears to garnish
a few dashes cayenne + fresh black pepper

dressing: 1 Tbsp balsamic glaze + 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil*

*if you cannot find balsamic glaze (which has a thick drippy consistency, you can sub with any variety of balsamic vinegar. Aged thick balsamic works best.)

Boost it -> Add more beans and maybe even some grains like quinoa or brown rich to make this salad into a full entree dish.

Nutritional Info (not including vegan cheese accents or dressing)..

Directions:

1. Prep and roast your beets according to recipe here.
2. Add greens to bowl, to with oranges, pecans, beets and beans.
3. Add in the endive and radicchio spears and add cayenne, pepper and dressing. Top with vegan cheese shavings.

Serve by candlelight, with some red wine (or grape juice), warm toasted bread and maybe a Twilight flick in your DVD player.