Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese

This is a delicious salad. We got fresh beets from Kiss-im-mee Green Place farm in Orlando.

4 fresh beets
1/3 cup pecans, chopped
2 Tbsp. agave nectar
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
1/3 c. olive oil
2 oz. goat cheese
Spring mix salad greens

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash and trim ends from beets. Wrap each in aluminum foil and place on a baking sheet. Bake for one hour. Remove from oven to cool for a bit. When cool enough to handle, peel and slice beets.

Heat chopped pecans in a skillet until they started to toast. Add agave and stir until coated. Remove from heat.

Mix vinegar and oil, along with salt, pepper and other desired seasonings.

Place salad greens on plates. Top with sliced beets, goat cheese and drizzle with dressing.

Farm Fresh Green Bean Recipe

We made a trip to a local nursery/farm yesterday - South Seminole Nursery & Farm in Casselberry, Florida. They've been there for 30 years, and we just found them! They are on 10 acres and have a ton of plants for sale; everything from bamboo to citrus to orchids. We bought some herbs to plant, and a pound of fresh green beans that were picked that morning.

I modified a recipe I found on Allrecipes.com to eliminate sugar.

I steamed the beans for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, I chopped up three slices of nitrate-free bacon and cooked in a skillet until done, about 5 minutes. I drained the grease and added 1/4 cup of organic butter, a splash of Agave (instead of brown sugar), Himalayan salt and organic pepper to taste. When the beans were done, I added them to the bacon mixture in the skillet and stirred to coat the beans. Delicious!!!