Welcome to "Off the Counter", the new foodie section of Cocoon's blog. I've only done a couple of food related posts and each one of them has been very well received (thank you!). I noticed that every photo taken for those posts was of the same spot on our kitchen counter. The exact spot where I measure, chop, whisk and stir with my children in tow. Cooking has become somewhat of a parenting survival method for me. It's one of the few activities wherein all three of my kids participate at the same time. Not an easy feat but one well worth the effort. Kitchens are the heart and soul of a home, sharing the cooking experience with children gives them the opportunity to create, explore and relate to food on all levels. With that said, take a look and read about our most recent salad creation: beets, apples and blue cheese. Mind you, the kids did not want to taste the salad but they all took a sip of the beet infused water (know when to pick your battles).

Salad ingredients: beets, apples, blue cheese and arugula

Dressing ingredients: Olive oil, seasoned rice vinegar, honey, salt and pepper.

Boil beets until they soften, peel and then toss them with olive oil and salt. Roast for about 15 minutes. This allows them to dry out a bit. Chop the beets and apples into large cubes, set them on a bed of arugula and top with blue cheese. The dressing is prepared to taste (adding a bit of honey tends to off-set the pungency of the blue cheese).

Enjoy!