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Okay, okay, so I might have basically already lost you at the title of this recipe. What can I say? I just prefer upfront honesty.

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So I seriously considered only sharing the dressing for this recipe and letting the salad be the “serving suggestion” because that’s pretty much all it is. Here’s what happened. -> I was craving a big bowl of greenness, and if you can’t possibly fathom how someone could for reals be that excited about salad, that’s okay we can still be friends ;). Anyway, what ended up in the bowl was totally by chance based on what I had that day. This dressing though, it’s life-changing!

Fine, so it might not be the most exceptional recipe you’ve ever heard of. I mean, there are only 3 ingredients in it. The reason I was so excited about it is that it brings together some of my favorite aspects of a recipe. #1. It takes no time to make. #2. It uses something, that would otherwise be a waste product, in a genius way. #3. almond butter. enough said.

If you’re still here I’ll let you know what’s in it, but first, have you ever tried pickled beets? Even if you despise beets with every cell in your body and loathe pickled things with a burning passion, I’d still ask you to give them a chance. So do you like sweet and sour sauce because that’s what they remind me of. You know how pickles are unrecognizable as cucumbers? In fact, when I’ve asked some people what veggie is used to make pickles I’ve been shocked how many don’t even know.

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That’s the story of pickled beets. They turn from a strong flavored, very sweet root veg into a soft bite of perfectly balanced sweet and sour. Plus, they taste nothing like their original selves and don’t even get me started on the benefits of eating them. If you’d like to buy them the link will be below with a small payment of…..jk, lol. No shameless plugs today. Just shameless love of real food.

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Wow, all this rambling and I still haven’t told you what exactly goes into this dressing. Here it is; almond butter, Trader Joe’s green dragon sauce (or any hot sauce), and the juice from a jar of pickled beets. Done. Right there you’ve got your creamy, spicy, sweet, tangy, and salty flavors and all you do is stir it together. Can you spell win win?
Oh, and if you’re wondering what farro is, it’s an ancient grain and form of wheat that’s similar to barley. It’s got all sorts of health benefits but because it is a wheat it contains gluten. If you have an intolerance to gluten, don’t worry, just replace it in this recipe with brown rice.

Farro Salad + Pickled Beet & Almond Butter Dressing

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 1-2 servings

Some super basic salad inspiration focused around an extremely easy dressing.

Ingredients

Dressing:

1/3 cup pickled beet liquid
1-2 tablespoons tj's green dragon sauce (or any hot sauce)
2 tablespoons raw almond butter

Salad: (everything optional)

1-2 cups baby spinach or lettuce, roughly chopped
1-2 stalks celery, chopped
1/4 cup cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup cooked white beans, rinsed
1/2 cup cooked farro (use brown rice for gluten free)
1/4 cup cubed roasted sweet potato
1/2 green bell pepper, sliced
1/4 cup carrots, diced
2 tablespoon onion, diced
1/4 cup pickled beet cubes
1 tablespoon pepitas

Instructions

In a small bowl or glass, whisk together the ingredients for the dressing until smooth. Store in an airtight container until ready to serve.
For the salad, wash and chop all of the veggies you'd like to add top with the dressing when ready to eat.

ALL CONTENT IS MINE AND ORIGINAL! All of these food photos were taken with my Nikon D750 and my favorite Lens, the Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G. You can find out more in my INTRO POST.

And, by the way, to all the minnows out there, my intro post did a huge $0.21. The key to success on Steemit is to be consistent and persistent. Click on the link below for some great tutorials on how you can also succeed on the steem blockchain: