Warm Beet & Arugula Salad with Cranberries & Toasted Sesame Seeds
Hi and welcome! I’m Evangeline—mom, Registered Massage Therapist, Yoga teacher, and lover of all things health and wellness. I started this blog back in the early days of Covid19 as a way to stay in touch with my clients, and it’s grown into a space to share what I love most. Here you’ll find simple, nourishing recipes I make for my family, sprinkled with Ayurveda and Yoga wisdom. My hope is that these posts inspire you to care for yourself in small, joyful ways and feel a little more balanced in everyday life.
In Ayurveda, spring is recognized as the perfect time to clean up the body, give it a cleanse you could say. With this in mind, we can bring our attention to bile and the liver because they play a vital role in preventing many common health problems such as gall stones and high cholesterol. Beets thin out the bile which can get thick and sludgy for various reasons such as eating a highly refined diet and not enough fibre, or consuming heavy hard to digest food like red meat, or from an unhealthy lifestyle, or chronic stress, all this contributes to disrupting the production and flow of bile. You can think of thinning out bile like you would take your car in for an oil change. Bile is made in the liver and stored in the gall bladder and is responsible for breaking down fats and eliminating wastes. The liver is known as the seat of digestion in Ayurveda, and we know now the liver is an important organ involved in over 500 essential functions. Given that the liver processes, digests and metabolizes everything we eat including all fats from diet thanks to the bile, we really need to take care of these two often over looked organs.
Warm Beets with Arugula in a Thyme Lime-Orange Dressing topped with Dried Cranberries and Toasted Sesame Seeds
Yields: 2-3 Servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
ingredients
3-4 handfuls of arugula
2-3 beets, peeled and cut in quarters
1 tsp ghee or pure olive oil
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground fennel
A pinch of turmeric
4-6 springs thyme or ½ tsp dried
1 cup water
Small handful sun-dried cranberries
1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
Thyme Lime-Orange Dressing:
Put all ingredients in a jar and shake.
¼ cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon fresh lime
1 Tablespoon fresh orange juice
2-3 sprigs fresh thyme, or ¼ tsp dried
½ tsp maple syrup
Dash of salt and pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
In a pot, heat ghee or olive oil with spices and thyme on medium heat until aroma is released.
Add beets and enough water to reach an inch above level of beets, about 1 cup.
Turn heat to high. When it boils turn heat down to low and cover with a lid.
Cook beets for 15 minutes, or until tender. While beets are cooking, make dressing and prepare arugula.
Plate arugula and toss it with a bit of dressing. Spread the fresh cooked beets over arugula and toss with more dressing.
Finish with cranberries and toasted sesame seeds and garnish with an orange and thyme sprig.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
