Anyway, this week's new food is the beet.
I have eaten beets before, I've just never cooked them myself. I actually have pretty fond memories of eating pickled beets when I was growing up. I can't believe I like them when I was a little kid--it seems like an old person food to me--but I did.
I started looking at different ways to cook/eat beets. Most recipes called for roasting the beets before you do anything else, so that's the first thing I did. I just cut the stems off, washed them, wrapped them in foil, and baked them at 400 for 45 minutes. Once they cooled, they were super easy to peel. (I DO recommend using a paper towel to peel them, because beets stain something awful!
This is what they look like after roasting and peeling.
So, then the big question was what to do with these beets? David told me that he really doesn't like beets (he didn't have the fond childhood memories I did), so I tried to come up with something else. And, thanks to Pinterest, we made beet smoothies.
We put a couple of beets in the blender with ice and frozen fruit (mangoes and raspberries were what we had in the freezer), and pureed the heck out of it.
Now, for the record, the kids didn't have too much beet in their smoothie. I didn't know what it was going to taste like, and I didn't want to turn them off to smoothies, so they just had a little bit of beet in theirs.
So, the verdict? Not bad. Not great, but not bad. I think if I had added a little bit of sweetener, it would have been pretty good. However, the good news is that smoothie made me feel great all morning. I didn't even have a cup of coffee, I felt full and had lots of energy. So, I think I'll be making some more beet smoothies in the future. But I probably won't have anyone in this house begging me to share.
Any suggestions for the next new food?
5 comments:
Beets also make really good jelly. My mom used to make that when I was a kid. Since I don't know how to make any kind of jelly, I don't know if the process differs from that of making any kind of jelly, but I assume there's something online about it.
Yummy!
Cut off the tops without cutting into the beet (save them). Do not cut off the root. Boil the beets until they are fork tender. Rinse them with cold water until they are cool enough to peel by hand. Slice them and melt butter on them and add salt. This is one of our garden favaorites for them summer. My boys love it, too!
As for the greens... sautee them with onions and garlic for a few minutes. Cool them with water and refrigerate until cold. Add them to your salad. Soooo tender. Delicious!
Maybe we can grow some in the garden next summer. I didn't even think about using the greens! Oops!
You are brave! Beet smoothies-I don't think so.
I think you should try plantains next. It is a food I never had in the states but people tell me you can buy them in the grocery. We eat them all the time here and love them!
Oh, plantains it is! IF I can find them :)
Post a Comment