Beet Me!

I love a good roasted beet salad, but I never make it at home.... that is until today.  The thing that has always tripped me up is the hour that it takes to roast them.   I guarantee that I will spend that hour nibbling and noshing, and when the beets are finally ready, I'll be full.  Here's the trick - don't wait until you're hungry to make a roasted beet salad!  I roasted three beets yesterday, put them in a ziploc bag and they were ready and waiting at lunchtime today.  The rest of the salad comes together in no time flat.

First, wash the beets well and cut the stems leaving about an inch attached.  I like to put the beets in a casserole dish, drizzle with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and cover with foil (don't let the foil touch the beets) and roast at 375 for about an hour.  When they are cool enough to handle, wipe off the skins with a paper towel.  It's hard to avoid beet juice on your fingers, but a little lemon and salt will clean you up.

 Don't throw out the beet greens; you can saute them in a little olive or coconut oil with garlic,onions, a pinch of red pepper flakes and a splash of red wine vinegar...super delicious, super healthy.  I love that you get two completely different flavors from one veg.

There are certain foods that I associate with beets, so I threw them into my salad: orange segments, candied walnuts (saute 1/3 cup walnuts in a half tablespoon of buttter with a pinch each of salt, pepper and brown sugar), red onion slices (soaked for 15 minutes in cider vinegar to mellow the flavor), and a couple ounces of goat or blue cheese.  Sprinkle with the juice that comes from cutting the orange and a little oilve oil.  And voila....

Give beets a try this weekend.  They are so tasty and so good for you - they contain betacyanin, which gives beets their deep color, and is a powerful cancer-fighter.  They also help detox the liver...depending on how your weekend goes, you might need that...

I love autumn...

What I lack in gardening skills, I make up for with friends that are great at it.  I received a big batch of apples from my friend Randy's yard.  Crisp, tart, juicy...you just can't beat fruit right off the tree.  I love that they even had the stems attached...

I have been on quite a cobbler and crisp spree lately, so I'll undoubtedly use some of these lovelies in a sweet dessert, but I was having a sweet/savory craving this afternoon.  A quick peek in the fridge, and the idea came together....saute apples with onions, crimini mushrooms, hatch chile, garlic, and a little splash of my homemade veggie stock.  Season with salt and pepper and a little bit of cumin...delish.

I contemplated filling toasted corn tortillas, but I'm trying to pry myself away from turning everything into a Mexican meal, so I cooked up some of those yummy soba noodles from Costco in veggie stock and mixed in the apple and onion mixture,   Now, I'm a bit of a "cooking on the fly" girl, so I don't have exact measurements, but this one is pretty easy for you to interpret.  I hope my posts will be more of an inspiration than a recipe box, but I understand some people need a recipe to get started, so I will try to get better at that now that I am committed to this blog.....

ooooh my timer just went off, and my roasted beets are done....check back and see what happens to them.