Winter Beet and Grapefruit Baby Kale Salad

this post is sponsored by Taylor Farms. thank you for supporting the partnerships that allow brewing happiness to grow and exist. xoxo.

There’s so much focus put on sweets and holiday specific dishes around this time of year. I find that the health-ier dishes often suffer, because they’re just thrown together last minute. Sometimes they’re forgotten all together from the gathering. It really bums me out. I made it my mission to revitalize the winter salad and make it a vibrant, beautiful, and exciting addition to any meal. (Or even a meal in itself.)

I used Taylor Farms Organic Baby Kale as the base, because it’s a great leafy green with tons of health benefits, but you don’t have to de-stem it like regular kale. It’s health without the work. Then I topped that base with roasted beets (because they’re the healthy winter candy), quinoa (for protein!), roasted chickpeas (yum), and roasted grapefruit (yeah – it’s delicious.) The roasting takes a while, but the effort is minimal.

This year when you gather round the holiday table this year, I hope there is something green and delicious (hint hint.)

If you want a couple more suggestions for delicious holiday salads, try this Garlicky Kale Holiday Salad or this Warm Squash Apple Pear Kale Salad.

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Winter Beet and Grapefruit Baby Kale Salad

Need a healthy holiday salad? This Winter Beet and Grapefruit Baby Kale Salad with chickpeas, quinoa, pepitas is THE PERFECT ONE. 

Course Salad, Stuff in a Bowl

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 6

Author Brewing Happiness

Ingredients

• 11 oz Taylor Farms Organic Baby Kale
• 2 red beets
• 2 golden beets
• 2 grapefruits, segmented
• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup tri-color quinoa, rinsed
• 1 cup veggie broth or water
• 1/4 cup pepitas, roasted and salted

For the dressing:

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar (sub honey)
• 1 shallot, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375.

2. Wrap your beets in tin foil, and place them on a baking sheet. Bake for 50 minutes. 

3. Meanwhile, add your drained and rinsed chickpeas to a baking sheet along with segmented grapefruits. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil and season with ginger, cinnamon, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes. 

4. While your beets, chickpeas and grapefruits are roasting - rinse your quinoa and add it to a pot along with 1 cup broth or water (if using water, sprinkle with salt). Bring quinoa to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, take off heat, fluff with a fork, cover and let sit for 5 minutes. 

5. In a jar with a lid, add all dressing ingredients and shake vigorously. 

6. When beets are ready, peel them, slice them into thin moon shapes and add to a large bowl along with Taylor Farms Organic Baby Kale. Top with roasted grapefruit and chickpeas, quinoa, pepitas, and drizzle with dressing. Toss. 

7. EAT UP. 

The holidays can be filled with this magical feeling. It’s a seasonal sensation, brought on by snow days and cuddling under blankets and phone calls with your mom about what to get dad for Christmas. It’s that success you feel when you get your sister a gift she actually likes. It’s opening that new chef’s knife your parents got you and slicing a squash with ease for the first time.

Okay, maybe that’s just my experience.

And I am very lucky to come from a home with parents that still love each other, a sister I admire, stable income, and on and on.  Even if they don’t always agree with me politically, or if they turn up their nose to tofu – they are still there for me. They’re willing to love me and support me and eat my Winter Beet and Grapefruit Baby Kale Salad. I am fortunate beyond belief.

But that’s not what this post is about. I want to make space for you. I want to make space for whatever the holidays bring up in your world.

Maybe you don’t have the money to go home, so you’ll spend the holidays in a small, dark apartment and you’ll treat it like any other day. Maybe you come from a divided family and you are stressed about splitting your time. Maybe people demand too much of you. Maybe you feel invisible. Maybe the stress of making enough money to pay for gifts is causing you sleepless nights. Maybe this is your first holiday without a loved one. Maybe this is your eighth holiday without that person, but it feels like yesterday. Maybe.

Just maybe.

You are not filled with magic.

That is okay. There is a space for your heart in the middle of this season. There is a space for you. 

The world may not be as gentle to you as you need right now. The world may be buzzing at a pace that feels suffocating. It may feel as if there is no room for you in this holiday season, no place to rest your weary head.

I encourage you to turn inward. I encourage you to care for yourself in the ways the world won’t. Make space for you this holiday season. Make space for your heart – whatever it may be feeling. Carve out a space for that.

Begin by nourishing your body – being gentle. Drink water. Eat some baby kale salad. Breathe deeply. Allow yourself to be gentle. Try these 35 self care tips.

Move onto nourishing your mind. Read some poetry (I suggest this book.) Or read a good book. Get lost in a story. Ignore the news. Say no to parties if you need to. Find some respite for your soul.

Then nourish your heart. Look in the mirror, hold your hand to your chest and repeat these words, “May you be well. May you be safe. May you be whole. May you be full of love.”  Make it a mantra. Repeat it again and again. Try to believe it.

Somewhere in this journey, perhaps you will find a glimmer of peace. Perhaps you will find a moment of stillness. Perhaps you will be kinder and gentler with yourself than you’ve ever been.

Try to give yourself some kindness this holiday season. You deserve it. xo.