Beets with Arugula "Cheese" and Orange - Rawmazing Raw and Cooked Vegan Recipes (2024)

Susan|May 29, 2014

Beets with Arugula “Cheese” and Orange (recipe follows post)

An Easy Elegant Appetizer and a Story

I exhaled on Tuesday for the first time in 5 months. Not your normal exhale but a long breath from deep down inside. As the air escaped frommy lips, months of pent up stress traveled with it. Finally, a feeling of pure joy and delightful expectation started to overcome me, along with complete exhaustion.

Many of you know that I moved to California from Minnesota 2 years ago. It was a big move and many adjustments had to be made. About a year ago, with the blessing of my partner, Peter, I started looking for a new house. We wanted a home that reflected our life together, and how we wanted to live. Peter’s house was a bit too big and formal and I desperately missed having land.

Looking for a home in the Bay Area is not an easy task. Soaring real estate prices, and limited availability are two tricky obstacles that needed to be overcome. Add into that a desire for multiple garages (Peter) and land (me) and the term, “looking for a needle in a hay stack” comes to mind.

My other biggest challenge was finding a kitchen that I loved. I write this blog, write cookbooks, and am a professional food photographer. I spend hours in the kitchen daily. It is not only the place I prepare food, it is my office and my inspiration place.

All of the houses we looked at had beautiful kitchens. The problem was they were someone else’s idea of a beautiful kitchen.

My kitchen is completely plant based. I need a great flow. Having to make extra movements takes time and frustrates me. None of the kitchens would work the way I needed them to work. And redoing new, lovely kitchens was out of the question.

Then one rainy day, my realtor, Pat told me she had found a property that she thought we should look at.

I had already seen this home online and ruled it out. The turquoise and black bathroom, the 1970’s kitchen, and an exterior that was, shall we say, less than attractive? But she insisted (mostly because it had a huge garage for my car-building sweetie) and it also had a little land.

The drive up to the house was anadventure. We were only minutes from a major highway, smack dab in the middle of civilization and all of a sudden we were on a tiny road, climbing, twisting, and turning. And the views…oh the views! Both jaw dropping and stomach dropping all at the same time.

We emerged at the top of the ridge, and houses started appearing. As we pulled into the driveway, I took one look and thought, “No way, this house is not for us.” But the beautiful acre and a half had caught my attention with it’s twenty plus heritage oaks. And the views off the front were amazing.

Then we walked through the front door. Two story windows greeted us with a stunning view of Mt. Diablo in the distance. “Holy cow,I thought, “This is amazing.”

A quick walk through revealed a home that was well loved but looked like it hadn’t been updated since it was built in the early 70’s. It needed help. A lot of help.

But at the same time, it had potential. Amazing potential.

I will save you all the details, but it took over a month just to determine if we would buy it. Meeting with the builder, numerous inspections to make sure it was still sound and a lot of tricky negotiating to get it to a price that would accommodate the entire renovation that was needed.

While all of this was going on, I found myself driving up the windy road a couple times a week. There was something magical about this place that was calling out to me. Needless to say, I was falling completely in love with what at that point was only a dream and I had no idea if it could become reality.

The second part of the story was getting our house ready for the market. That is what has been keeping me away from the blog. Day after day of cleaning, clearing out, painting, fixing up, staging. It was exhausting work but in the end, with a lot of help from my daughter, Kaia, it all paid off. On Monday, the last major hurtle was cleared and I exhaled.

So, now you know what I have been up to, and I apologize for my absence. To celebrate being back in the kitchen, I put together a beautiful and easy appetizer I know you will simply love.

Beets, a light and fluffy arugula “cheese spread”, oranges and walnuts create a tasty and balanced flavor profile. Make this for your family or when entertaining. The only advance preparation is throwing the cashews in water the night before you want to make it. Cheers and enjoy!