Green Salad with Cucumber, Carrot and Beet topped with Creamy Dijon Dressing and Raw Sunflower Seeds

This is the salad we had tonight with the cream of broccoli soup for dinner. It was very light dinner, but it just seemed right after yesterday’s pasta. I tend to eat more “clean” after I have had a carb heavy meal like pasta the prior day.

Raw grated beets are one of my favorite salad additions from a nutrition perspective. I don’t suggest that you eat this salad while wearing light colored clothing since the beet will stain. We always change into something dark (preferably black) when I make a salad like this.

Tonight’s salad dressing is another variation of the creamy raw cashew dressings I have been making over the last couple of months. This time I added Dijon tonight for a little background tang. Here is the salad I made tonight.

Green Salad with Cucumber, Carrot and Beet topped with Creamy Dijon Dressing and Raw Sunflower Seeds
Serves 4

Ingredients:

½ cup cashews
½ cup water
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper, to taste
8 cups of mesclun, washed and spun dry
8 inches of English cucumber, halved lengthwise and then sliced into half moons
½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 carrots, scrubbed and grated
2 beets, scrubbed and grated
2 tablespoons raw sunflower seeds

Directions:

Combine the cashews, water, Dijon and pepper in your blender and process until creamy. Refrigerate the dressing until needed.

Plate the greens first, then beet followed by carrot. Top with dressing and a sprinkling of sunflower seeds.

Nutritional information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 240.1
Calories From Fat (39%) - 94.8

Total Fat - 11.3g
Saturated Fat - 1.89g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 132.1mg
Potassium - 1340.37mg
Total Carbohydrates - 29.06g
Fiber - 8.85g
Sugar - 13.38g
Protein - 9.05g

Comments:

Each serving of this salad contains more than 7,500IU of vitamin A, 130mg of calcium, 210mcg of folate, 50mcg of vitamin K, 270mg of phosphorus and 130mg of magnesium. This salad contains a lot of nutrition.

If you don’t think you like beets they are very good with a creamy raw cashew dressing. It is my favorite way to include raw beets in a salad.

I am off to make a variation of my chocolate and banana smoothie for the hubby to keep his calories up since our day was so calorie light. I hope you all have a great evening.