Candied Quinoa Pecans & Spiralized Beet Salad

These are my new obsession.

I was looking for more spiralized beet recipes, and this one came up!

A raw beet salad w/ these amazing candied pecans w/ quinoa.

Truthfully, I think the quinoa is for aesthetics only, because it doesn't impart much of a flavor, more of a crunch.
But they look so pretty.

They are addictive. Delicious in salads or snacking alone.

Here is how to make them:

1 cup of pecans
about 5 tbsp of maple syrup
1/4 cup of uncooked quinoa

In a non-stick skillet (make sure it's NON-stick), pour in the pecans, then measure in about 5 tablespoons of maple syrup.

After about 1 minute, add in the quinoa.

Keep stirring with a silicone spatula until all the liquid is gone and the nuts are nice and brown and there is a spider web effect in between them (you'll know).

Immediately pour the coated quinoa nuts out onto a sheet of wax or parchment paper to cool completely.

They will harden and you can store them in a lidded container for a few days.

If you want to make the salad that goes with them (which I highly recommend), here is the recipe.

Raw Beet Salad w/ Apples & Quinoa Pecans: (adapted from Simply Quinoa)

1 large beet
1 large apple, preferably a crispy variety (I like Granny Smith)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons maple syrup
sea salt + pepper to taste

Using your spiralizer, make your beet noodles (or buy them already spiraled). You can also spiralize the apple, but I just cut mine into thin slices.

Whisk the oil, lemon juice, mustard and maple syrup to make a dressing. Season w/ sea salt & pepper.

Pour over the apples and beet noodles in a large bowl and set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This is important, so the acidic dressing has time to marinate the beets.

Take the salad out of the fridge and toss again.
Plate with the candied quinoa pecans.

SO GOOD!