Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese and Walnuts

My CSA farm box this week contained 3 fresh, beautiful beets.  Usually I'd boil them, since that's what my mom always used to do.  But I decided to roast them today instead.  Everything tastes better roasted, right?  Right!

I had a bit of leftover goat cheese I needed to use up, so I figured I'd top the beets with that.  The tang was really good with the sweetness of the beets.  And some toasted walnuts for crunch.  YUM!  Not too shabby for having made this up off the top of my head.

In case anyone was wondering: beets are a Phase 3 food on the South Beach Diet because they are higher on the glycemic index.  I'm eating them as a personal choice food because they came in my CSA farm box, even though I'm still technically on Phase 2.

Be careful when handling beets -- they stain!

Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese and Walnuts

Ingredients:

• 3 medium, fresh beets
• olive oil
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt (to taste)
• balsamic vinegar
• a few ounces of goat cheese
• a few tablespoons of coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Wash and dry the beets.  Cut top and bottom ends off and discard.  Using a vegetable peeler, peel the skin off the beets.  Quarter the peeled beets, then slice into 1/4 inch pieces.
• Put the sliced beets into a bowl and drizzle with a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Season with TSSS.  Toss.
• Place the seasoned beets onto a baking sheet, in a single layer, and roast for 15 - 20 minutes, until they're fork-tender.
• Remove baking sheet from oven and drizzle a little balsamic vinegar over the beets.  (Be careful of hot steam when doing this.)
• Plate the beets.  Crumble some goat cheese on them and sprinkle some toasted walnuts on top.
• Serve warm.