What I learned this week: You can’t hide beets in a smoothie like you can greens. 
“It tastes like a garden,” according to my husband, and by that he did NOT, unfortunately, mean fresh, local and homegrown goodness. He meant dirt, but was too wise to say that in front of our 4-year-old, who drank half of his. The one-year-old couldn’t get enough of it, but I don’t think she’ll be able to finish this by herself:
Can you say magenta? Wouldn’t it be nice to get that fun color of smoothie without it tasting like dirt? I had to drink mine like medicine because I couldn’t stand to waste: raw organic milk, organic strawberries, home-cooked greens…too much money and work to pour it down the drain!!!
This is actually only my second time purchasing beets, my first being when I went out on a limb and made a batch of baby food beets this winter. (By the way, baby food cubes that daughter won’t eat anymore also do *not* hide in spaghetti sauce, not even one. Can you say magenta?)
Actually, Lovey Girl DID eat the smoothie at two more meals and loved it every time. It's almost gone!
I won’t be putting beets in smoothies anytime soon, but I did come up with two decent cold beet salads that I’m happy to share with you:
Greek Beet Salad
cooked beet chunks*
chopped red onion
baby spinach
feta cheese
Balsamic vinaigrette dressing**
walnuts
garbanzo beans
*Leave the skins on and roast in a covered dish with a little water at 350-400 degrees for 30-45 minutes until soft. Once cooled a bit, the skins come right off! You can also boil them with skins on, then peel. OR you can peel first, slice and steam.
**Whisk 1 Tbs Dijon mustard with 2 Tbs balsamic vinegar. Stream 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil in while whisking. Add a tsp of thyme if you like.
Cucumber Dill Beet Salad
cooked beets, chunked or sliced
cubed cucumber
sprinkle dill
shake on red wine vinegar
(next time I’m going to try adding a hard-boiled egg)
And did you know you can eat the greens? Treat them like any other green (spinach, kale). I’ve put them in sauteed or grilled veggies, and I steamed a bunch in cubes for smoothies.
Of course, I don’t know if that works yet because above was the smoothie they appeared in!
I’m pleased to link up to What I Learned This Week at Musings of a Housewife, Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop and Ultimate Recipe Swap (salads) at Life as MOM.
Have you seen these other worthy posts?
- What’s Wrong With Antibacterial Soap?
- Energy Use in the Kitchen – How Much do YOU Use?
- Hand Sanitizers in the Home
I’d love to see more of you! Sign up for an email subscription or grab my reader feed.
If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.
Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money. If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.
The cucumber dill beet salad sounds wonderful. Though I am a bit scared of beets. Perhaps I’ll have to give it a try!
Melanie’s last blog post..I Need to Know Tuesday, Vol. 12 – Movie Edition!
[Reply to this comment]
Beets are awesome! Chocolate beet cake, borscht, Harvard, pickled- love them. My 3.5 year old is crazy for them.
Lisa RM’s last blog post..July IComLeavWe Introduction: ABC’s
[Reply to this comment]
I love beets so much, especially baby beets. I can never have enough recipes for putting them in, though if I’m honest, I can sit and eat baby beets just on the side because I love them so much. My insides are probably a pretty magenta too lol
[Reply to this comment]
LOL! Beets are one veggie I just cannot eat. Although that smoothie looks yum. If you don’t know what’s in it.
[Reply to this comment]
Beets not a veg I usually choose, but I do like it shredded in a Marks & Spencer prepared ribbon salad! – so much nicer when made by someone else
[Reply to this comment]
Katie – love the beet color on Lovey Girl’s face. Magenta is a good color for her. Also I think I see all of the beet smoothie in that little tummy sticking out -ha. Love to all. A. Vic
[Reply to this comment]
I’m glad that you put this on RFW. My girls have been loving smoothies and always asking me for new things to put in them. I was thinking of beets. Now I know better. Thank you.
I love sauteed beet greens. Yum.
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
July 23rd, 2009 at 4:46 am
Glad you could learn from my mistake!
[Reply to this comment]
We love roasted beets!! My favorite way to eat them is plain, and almost identical to your Greek salad (minus the garbanzo beans, walnuts, and feta). Instead I crumble goat cheese. YUM! There is something so awesome about the flavor of beets with goat cheese. Next time I might just throw in the garbanzo beans and walnuts, but I can’t give up the goat cheese.
That sure IS one magenta smoothie. Hey, if you don’t try… you’ll never know.
[Reply to this comment]
Thank you so much for linking up last week on Momtrends. I wanted to let your know the linky is up. I shared a yummy baked flounder recipe and hope you will stop by!
http://momtrends.blogspot.com/2009/07/friday-feasts-baked-flounder.html
[Reply to this comment]
For Earth Day, The Green Baby Guide had a yummy-sounding ‘beet chocolate cake’ recipe. I didn’t try it, but it looks pretty good!
Here’s the link:
http://greenbabyguide.com/2009/04/21/beet-chocolate-cake-an-april-fools-day-surprise/
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
July 27th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
I am amazed that you could hide that many beets in a cake!! That woman is soooo brave, serving it for a birthday first time making a new recipe. I definitely bookmarked that one; no way can we finish a bunch of beets in this house. I just threw away the 3 leftovers from this smoothie disaster today…apparently beets don’t last longer than a week once cooked. Grrr, I hate wasting food.
[Reply to this comment]
I been adding beets to my protein shakes with great success! I buy them fresh, cut up into small cubes, and freeze in the same bag as my other fruits and veggies. It turns gray or green colored shakes into a pretty pink color which my son finds more appetizing. However, I only use in small amounts (3-8 1/2 inch cubes). You can gradually add more as you get the hang of it.
Please, don’t rule out beets! They have so many health benefits. I also pulverize fresh nuts and add a little almond or vanilla extract, if needed.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/538479/15_health_benefits_of_beets_fight_cancer.html?cat=51
[Reply to this comment]