I think it's safe to say that any time I have leftover mozzarella, I make some kind of roasted veggie salad (except in the summer time, when it's all peaches and tomatoes, baby). Beets. Beets are amazing vegetables, and one of my favorites to pair with mozzarella. I had a quarter pound of mozzarella left from this amazing lasagna, so it is Beet City USA up in here this week.

Planning!

I truly do not plan this. I almost forgot to add it to my Fitbit dashboard. I bought two small beets for each day I expect to want this salad. I did finally remember to add it to my Fitbit dashboard. Victory!

Here's the nutritional breakdown from Fitbit...

Groceries I had on hand...

• mozzarella
• olive oil
• balsamic
• black pepper
• salt

Groceries I had to buy...

• beets (2.21lb @ $.99/lb = $2.19)

Total monies spent for the entire recipe: $10.37

Total monies spent for each of these 5 salads....

$.44 per salad...

Cooking!

I am a huge fan of the beet. They're great raw (truly), but they also roast like a dream with almost no work (also I just saw a thing on Top Chef about Beet Raisins that bears further investigation). Wash them, seal them up in foil, toss them into a 450F degree oven for 45min to an hour depending on their size, let them cool in the foil, test them for doneness, and peel then chop 'em up.

In this case, all that was left to do was chop up and distribute the mozzarella between the containers, and dress each salad. I shake up the dressing in the container so that all the beets and mozz are coated. It will keep the cheese from getting sad while it sits in the fridge, and will lightly marinate the whole salad.

Quick note: beets. stain. everything. Do what you need to protect yourself! I wear gloves when I'm working with a lot of beets, and I also use a plastic cutting board (and a cheap knife) that can do in the dishwasher. They're worth it.

See what I mean? So easy, but so rewarding. Beets For The Win!