Reprinted from Start Fresh: Your Child’s Jumpstart to Lifelong Healthy Eating by Tyler Florence. Copyright (c) 2011 by Tyler Florence. By permission of Rodale, Inc.

“Beets and spinach make this salad incredibly nutritious, but it’s the addition of quinoa that catapults it into the realm of superfood! This South American grain is just as easy to make as couscous but packs a lot more protein and has a nice toothy crunch. You’ll find this salad quite delicious and easy to make, so give it a try, especially if you haven’t really played around with quinoa that much.”

Photo by John Lee

Ingredients:

5 small golden beets, scrubbed

3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 cup quinoa

1 ounce fresh spinach, stems removed, shredded

3 tablespoons raisins

3 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese

1⁄2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Arrange the beets on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast the beets until tender when pierced with a fork, 25 to 30 minutes. Let the beets stand until cool enough to handle, then use wet hands to slip the skins from the beets. Cut the beets into quarters.

Meanwhile, in a 11 ⁄2-quart saucepan, bring 2 cups of salted water to a boil. Add the quinoa and cook, stirring occasionally, until all the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Fold the spinach into the quinoa and set aside.

In a large bowl, fold the quinoa mixture, beets, raisins, and feta together and drizzle with the remaining 2 teaspoons of olive oil and the lemon juice.

Divide the entire recipe into both adult and child-friendly portions. For adults, serve as is. For children, transfer to a food processor and puree or fork-mash, as appropriate.

Makes 4 adult servings or about 6 kid servings