Beets – delicious from tip to tip

I confess that until I was in my 30’s I had only ever consumed pickled beets – and while I liked them, I was missing out.  Those glorious blood red orbs have a distinctive but mild flavor that my child has always enjoyed.

I recently bought a set of 3 very large, gorgeous beets with greens and over the course of the next 4 days I used all but the very bottom root and the section where the greens emerge and the skin is particularly thick.  I should have saved those for pink soup stock 😉

I used the beets themselves for beet & avocado salad with goat cheese.  My 11 year old preferred the beets all by themselves.

I also used the beet greens in a lovely kale and cannelini beans dish from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

Several days later I chopped the beet stems I’d saved and sauteed them along with onions and spinach as a layer in Luscious Layers – my GF, easy lasagna-type-thang.  Nobody noticed or cared and we used up the whole beet and kaboodle.

First, I will tell you about the original plan for the beets : Beet and Avocado Salad

There are many variations of this combo on-line, all more complicated than the following.

Beets – enough for about 5 or 6 slices for each person
Avocado – enough for about 5 or 6 lices for each person
Goat cheese – mine was honey goat cheese from Trader Joe’s which is relatively cheap, a bit sweet and delicious
lemon juice and olive oil on hand for the drizzlers in the crowd.

Cover the topped/ bottomed beets with water, bring to a boil and then let simmer for 25 – 30 minutes or until the tenderness you desire.

Let them cool off a little and then they are very easy to peel.  The color underneath the skin at this point is unbelievably vibrant.  My slightly fuzzy pic gives you some idea of the color:

Aren’t they pretty?

Once the beets are cool and peeled, you can slice them and arrange the slices on each plate (or throw in a bowl if presentation ain’t in the stars when you make this)
Slice the avocado and lay on top of the beets
crumble a tablespoon or so of goat cheese on top of each one
If you like drizzle a little lemon juice and/or olive oil on top.  I though it was quite good all by itself.

My plate is bigger than my stomach!

The kale and cannelini beans involves boiling the greens which I’ve never done before.  Tenders the little fellows right up!

Boiling Beet Greens Batman!

You see the finished product on the plate with the beet salad.  My 11 year old also ate this without complaint…. I’m on a beet roll…

Last but not least – sauteed beet green stems with onions (to which I added spinach)

The stems have a beet-y flavor, but not overpowering at all.

And for the first time I made and used our good friend Somer’s cashew cheese which can slice and melt.  Wow!  Really delicious.  Somer has variations of this cheese, so if you need dairy free cheese, check out the above and her new blog Vedged Out where you can find her newest cheesy creations and lots of other great plant-based foods.  A warning – the cashew cheese is expensive to make, but for us it was quite a treat to have something creamy and cheesy.

beets? There’s no beets in there!

My other favorite way to eat beets is cut into chunks and roasted with sweet potatoes and yellow or red potatoes and some oil and seasoning.  FANTASTIC.

Little Sis and I have been known to throw raw beet into smoothies as well – makes a lovely pink smoothie!
Little Sis also shared a great Beet soup recipe, as well as Beet burgers.

Who new the much maligned could be something other than pickled?  Glad I know now.

What do you like to do with beets?