More Salad Experimentation

Well, Ruth and I didn't get to making salads until Sunday evening.  However, we tried two new recipes that I think will be hits.  First of all, we made a

Broccoli, Beets and Bean Salad (The Three B's)

2 heads of broccoli, cut into small pieces
3 small golden beets - cut in half and boiled or steamed until tender, then thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, diced
2 1/2 cups red kidney beans (or a 19 oz can)
1/4 cup feta cheese crumbled or diced
1 cup chopped nuts

Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Either 2 TLB raspberry jam or 2 tsp raspberry syrup
Salt and pepper to taste

This makes a really beautiful salad - the golden beets are much milder than the traditional deep red beets, and together with the red kidney beans, the green broccoli and the red onion (which is really purple) - it's really attractive.  I took photos but will have to load them later.

Then we made a
Cucumber Carrot Salad
Which was basically, thinly slicing
1/2 English cucumber
2 carrots (we used the purple carrots, which are orange in the centre - again, they're really beautiful)
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 red onion diced

Cover with
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Now I have to admit that the second day, the carrots had stained everything bright purple because they work the same way the beets do - but they're beautiful on the first day, aren't they?