I went into this recipe like a complete 12 year old; “Beets are gross and I hate Rachel Ray” (because it is a Rachel Ray recipe).

Ok, I don’t really hate Rachel Ray, I just think there was an over-saturation of her a few years back that I am scarred from. I didn’t need to see her on every channel, not to mention on my box of Wheat Thins.

But I digress…I said, “I don’t like beets”, but I would be hard pressed to tell you the last time, if ever, that I have eaten one. Plus I figured, this whole cooking experiment was to open my mind, so with my open arms in a cranial sense, I loaded up at the grocery store.

The best part about this recipe is that there is no actual “cooking” involved. Not only did it turn out to be super tasty, but it is a great way to get loads of vegetables into a meal, vegetables that I would guess most people don’t use on a daily basis.

Beets are actually a very underrated vegetable. Ancient Romans used beetroot as a treatment for fevers and constipation , amongst other ailments. Today, beets are one of the best foods out there for you. It is a high-fiber little power house that can help lower your LDL, or bad, cholesterol, is a known anti-inflammatory, is loaded with natural antioxidants, and contains folate, an essential B vitamin.

Let’s not forget about the radishes! Also a high-fiber contender, radishes are loaded with vitamin C. Both beets and radishes are also noted as being cancer fighters, mainly colon cancer.

The preserves (I used raspberry) gave this salad a very sweet and refreshing finish, and all in all I found this to be a great little dish! And it turns out that beets aren’t really gross at all.

You can find the entire recipe at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/beet-and-walnut-salad-recipe/index.html .

I will have original pictures back next month. Technology was not on my side this weekend.

Enjoy!