A Life, Lived: Orange and Beet Salad

O Foods for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. In honor of Gina DePalma, author of Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchenand Executive Pastry Chef of Babbo Ristorante in NYC, who was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Sara of Ms Adventures in Italy, Jenn of The Leftover Queen, and Michelle of Bleeding Espresso are asking you to donate to the:

Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (via FirstGiving.org)

and then, out of the goodness of your hearts and to be eligible for the O Foods for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month Contest, please do the following:

1. Post a recipe to your blog using a food that starts or ends with the letter O (e.g., oatmeal, orange, okra, octopus, olive, onion, potato, tomato) and include this entire text box in the post;

2. If you’re not into the recipe thing, simply post this entire text box in a post on your blog to help spread the word about the event and Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.

AND

3. Then send your post url [along with a photo (100 x 100) if you've made a recipe] to ofoods[at]gmail[dot]com by 11:59 pm (Italy time) on September 30, 2008.

We will post a roundup and announce prize winners on October 3.

Prizes:

1 Recipe Prize for best “O food” concoction: $50 gift certificate to Amazon;
1 Awareness Prize for only publicizing event: Copy of Dolce Italiano cookbook.

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From the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund:

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancers in the United States and is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women; a woman’s lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is 1 in 67.
The American Cancer Society estimates that 21,650 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the U.S. in 2008 and about 15,520 women will die from the disease.
The symptoms of ovarian cancer are often vague and subtle, making it difficult to diagnose. There is no effective screening test for ovarian cancer but there are tests which can detect ovarian cancer when patients are at high risk or have early symptoms.
In spite of this patients are usually diagnosed in advanced stages and only 45% survive longer than five years. Only 19% of cases are caught before the cancer has spread beyond the ovary to the pelvic region.
When ovarian cancer is detected and treated early on, the five-year survival rate is greater than 92%.

Please donate to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund
and help spread the word!

Yesterday I posted about the "O" menu we created to help raise awareness of ovarian cancer. Today I am featuring one of the recipes. This salad is based upon one posted by the ubertalented Elise of Simply Recipes. I selected it as my 'O' food because it was such a hit - mom insisted on the recipe and even called me tonight as she was making one for herself to ensure she was doing it right. Mom is a cancer survivor - has fought and won twice, so it seemed fitting to allow her to select the 'O' food!

Orange and Beet Salad

1 bunch of beets, leaves removed - about 4 or 5 medium sized
2 large navel oranges, peels cut off with a small small knife and sliced
1 bunch of arugula leaves, cleaned, and any thick stems removed
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

Dressing:

In a small jar, mix the following ingredients.
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon dried mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the beets with their peel on. Cover the beets with water, bring to a boil, and simmer for 30 minutes or until beets can easily be pierced through with a fork. After cooking, allow the beets to come to room temperature and remove their peels. Slice or quarter them.

Compose individual salad plates with arugula, a few slices of orange, and a few slices beets. Sprinkle with walnuts and blue cheese If you want some added color, gently add a few slices of the orange to the beet juice from your bowl of beets. Let the oranges absorb the beet color and use in your salad.

Sprinkle dressing over the individual salads.