Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Beets! It's what's for dinner!

Am I the only one that reads things all the time and thinks, "OMG, that is totally me!"  I ran across this the other day and I couldn't help but think someone had crawled into my head before they drew this cartoon...


Lately I've been in the "overwhelmed and craving routine" category.  We are really busy and I have been working so hard to stay committed to eating healthy and homemade.  So, I have been cooking unprocessed meals that nobody in my house will eat.  There.  I said it.  I am on a streak of really crappy dinners.  And guess what?  I'm cranky about that.  Ask my kids, they'll tell ya....mama doesn't like when nobody will eat her dinners.







Both of these sounded wonderful and looked great when finished too.  But neither of them were blog-worthy.  In fact, the soup was practically inedible and the pizza was so "meh" that I wanted to cry.

The only new thing that has come out of my kitchen lately that is blog-worthy is a roasted beet salad that I made the other day.  

Roasted Beet Salad

  • roasted beets 
  • feta (or goat) cheese
  • walnuts
1.  Roast your beets.  I follow this method.....
    • 12 beets
    • 3 tablespoons good olive oil
    • 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, minced
    • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
    • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    • 2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
    • Juice of 1 large orange 
        1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

        2.  Remove the tops and the roots of the beets and peel each one with a vegetable peeler. Cut the beets in 1 1/2-inch chunks. (Small beets can be halved, medium ones cut in quarters, and large beets cut in eighths.)

        3.  Place the cut beets on a baking sheet and toss with the olive oil, thyme leaves, salt, and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, turning once or twice with a spatula, until the beets are tender. Remove from the oven and immediately toss with the vinegar and orange juice. Sprinkle with salt and pepper warm.  

2.  Let your beets cool for 10-15 minutes.  If you're in a hurry, you can skip this step.
3.  Sprinkle your beets with cheese and walnuts.

Here's my beets, all sliced up and sprinkled with dried thyme.  I also put sprigs of fresh thyme on top.



Once cooked, I removed the fresh thyme and let them cool a bit before adding in cheese and walnuts.







This is a simple recipe that my family all enjoys.  Beets are a fantastic source of vitamins, and the roasted beets can be refrigerated and enjoyed cold the next day!   In fact, maybe you should make a double batch of these beets in case you have a dinner failure, you have a back up plan.  Beets!  It's whats for dinner!