Layered Summer Salad with Creamy Beet Dressing

During the summer, a hearty salad full of fresh ingredients is often the answer to “what’s for dinner?” Crispy and crunchy veggies can be as cooling as they are satisfying with a few protein rich add-ins.

I like using both cooked and raw ingredients in a salad when it’s our main dish. To that end, I like to prepare a few ingredients ahead of time so they’re all ready for dinner when we are.

Steaming, roasting, etc. can be completed either early in the day, or even the day before, and refrigerated until ready to use. That way just about all you need to do is set the table.

For this salad, I steam corn (from frozen), steam quinoa (I make this a day before), and heat cooked beans with salsa. Additionally, we are baking BBQ tempeh (which I usually do earlier in the day), and roasting the beets we need for the dressing.

Feeling creative? Substitute ingredients in this recipe freely! Try micro greens, diced avocados, finely shredded red cabbage, baked sweet potatoes, roasted fennel, snow peas…you name it. Endless varieties, and they would all be great.

I like serving main dish salads with my Easy Sourdough Country Bread. Recently I created a new recipe for Sourdough Focaccia that we really like, topped with caramelized shallots, fresh rosemary, and pink salt. I’ll share that recipe with you very soon, too! : )

LAYERED SUMMER SALAD WITH CREAMY BEET DRESSING

Servings: 6
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Layered Salad

2 cups cooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans (see below) *
2 red or yellow bell peppers, diced
3 cups mixed greens, roughly chopped (I like butterhead lettuce, baby spinach, and radicchio)
BBQ tempeh (see below) **
2 cups organic steamed corn
1 1/2 cups English cucumbers, chopped or thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved or quartered

Creamy Beet Dressing

1 cup raw cashews
1 cup water
2 small roasted beets (see below) ***
4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 teaspoons brown mustard
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

Prepare the cooked ingredients and set aside (quinoa, beans, tempeh, corn, and beets).

PREPARE CREAMY BEET DRESSING

Add cashews, water, beets, lemon juice, brown mustard, and seasonings to a high-powered blender (like a Vitamix), and process until completely smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve with salad.

ASSEMBLE LAYERED SALAD

In a large glass bowl with deep sides, spread cooked quinoa evenly. Add layer of spiced black beans, bell peppers, and mixed greens. Over the greens, add BBQ tempeh, followed by corn, and then cucumbers. Top with tomatoes.

Serve with chilled Creamy Beet Dressing.

* Black Beans

1 1/2 cups cooked black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup salsa
kosher salt and black pepper

In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, combine black beans with salsa. Bring to a simmer for about 2 minutes, or until the mixture is hot and bubbling. Remove from heat. Season with kosher salt and black pepper. Set aside to cool, until time to assemble salad.

** BBQ Tempeh

1 8-ounce block tempeh
1/4 cup Date Lady BBQ Sauce or BBQ sauce you like without sugar
2 tablespoons flavored balsamic vinegar of your choice
dash hot sauce
generous pinch kosher salt and black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Slice tempeh into 1/2-inch x 1/4-inch pieces. In a flat dish, stir together the marinade: BBQ sauce, vinegar, hot sauce, salt, and pepper. Add tempeh and toss until each piece is evenly coated with sauce.

Line a large baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Reserving as much of the sauce as you can, carefully place tempeh pieces onto prepared baking sheet. I like to use a fork (or two) to lift several pieces at a time, allowing some of the marinade to drip back through into the dish. (You’ll be using reserved sauce again after baking is complete, but extra sauce in the oven will just tend to burn.)

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until caramelized. Remove from oven, and toss tempeh into the dish of reserved sauce. Coat each piece of tempeh with remaining sauce. Set aside to cool, until time to assemble salad.

*** Roasted Beets

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Wash and trim beets. Place the beets in a small covered baking dish – or wrap beets individually in aluminum foil.

Roast the beets for one hour. Remove from the oven, and allow to cool, without opening. Once the beets have cooled, discard the thin outer skin on the beets, and proceed with recipe.