Cold Apple And Beetroot Salad

Serves 2

Beetroot is a wonderful summer vegetable, and is delicious raw, it is crunchy, perfect for a summer salad. Apples and beetroot are surprisingly delicious together, especially if you chose a slightly sour apple, like granny smith, the sweet taste from the beetroot works very well with the sharp crisp taste of the apple. Make sure the apple you pick is crunchy it will add to the taste and the wonderful crisp texture of the raw beetroot. Beetroot is in season from July and apples start from September but are available all year round, just in time for the end of summer and autumn. This wonderful salad is perfect to serve with a beautiful dinner outside in your garden, or for a great snack on a hot day.

If you are trying to get your children to eat something new, particularly salads and vegetables this is a great recipe to introduce to them to. Most children like eating apples, giving something they like with something new, like beetroot is a great way of getting kids to experiment.  Also beetroot is the sweetest vegetables with the highest sugar content but is low in calories. Most children love sweet foods so beetroot may be a perfect vegetable for them and it is very nutritious.  If you are making this recipe for your children you might want to leave out the vinegar or reduce it to suit their taste.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, this saying may not be completely true, but apples are a great star t to a healthy life style and an apple a day helps your heart. Apples are full of phytonutrients that work as antioxidants and reduce damage to our cardiovascular systems.  Apples also have lots of fibre which is also great for your heart, and research shows apples reduce risk of lung cancer in women and help with asthma.

Beetroot also does wonders for your body; it gets its purple colour from betacyanin which is a cancer fighting agent which reduces risk of colon cancer. Research also shows reduced cholesterol.

As well as being delicious apple and beetroot salad is fantastic for you, whether you are trying to look after your insides or your waist line. It is a fantastic salad that makes an interesting and tasty change from lettuce.

Ingredients

• 2 large beetroots, raw and peeled
• 1 green apple, granny smith or something slightly sour
• 1 carrot
• 1  tbsp of vinegar
• ½  tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Grate the apple beetroot and carrot.
2. Stir all ingredients together.