Beets Me!

a guest cook. : ~)
this recipe from my mother in law, Teresa Belcher, of Pasco, Washington.

This is my favorite recipe for roasted beets. I got it from Food Day on Jan. 28th 1997. That is the food section of the Portland, newspaper.

3 or 4 medium-large (2 1/2" diameter) beets
water
salt
2 TBS. oil
1 TBS. vinegar

Cut leaves from beets leaving about 1 1/2" of stem. Set leaves aside to use as greens.

Being careful not to break the skin or root tail, gently scrub beets with a soft veggie brush. Cook beets with skin and tail on.

Bake: Arrange beets on a pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour.

Skin cooked beets. Slice the warm beats into a bowl and sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt, oil and a dash of vinegar.
Serve warm or cold. Serves 4

I sometimes skip the oil and vinegar, and just use salt and butter on the beets and serve them warm. I like them both ways.


So, as you can tell....
I made beets!

Last week, I had gone to our local Farmer's market... I'm all about Farmer's Markets. Love them.
We live in the north/middle of the great state of Nevada. Not known for it's long growing season, or diversity of the things we can grow. So, when I saw some big, red, beautiful beets, I just had to have them.
They were so pretty. And fresh. And local.
But I had never cooked beets.
I had an incredulous friend Theda (that's her, in my slideshow...at a cooking class we took together in Reno, NV), who couldn't believe I had never cooked or eaten fresh beats.
She suggested that I also try the orange beets, as they were a bit sweeter, and told me I could find them at "Whole Foods".
A brand new "Whole Foods' had just opened in Reno and Rich and I just happened to be going on Friday, so we made a quick side-stop and I picked up some orange beets too.
I had friends suggest "Harvard Beets" and some said to "boil" them, some said to "roast" them, which is what I settled on.
OH MY WORD. They were great!!
I love beets!! Who knew?

I roasted them, but then trying to get them to "slip out" of their skins....HOLY COW!! they were hot, hot hot!!
I will do Harvard beets next time... as a funny side, I made a joke about "Harvard" because my daughter in law, Sadie, goes to Yale...and I didn't get a recipe for Yale beets, only Harvard.
Yep...my sense of humor....wow. It's.... hahahahaaaa.


I also picked up the cookbook "How to eat Supper" by "the Splendid Table's" Lynne Rossetta Kasper, while I was in the big town at a bookstore. I think it will be great.

Beets....ANYTIME.

Here is the recipe for the pea dish... it's a cold one. My mom's.
Peas Pittsacado

1 lb fresh or frozen peas
3 green onions, sliced
6 slices cooked and crumbled bacon
1 cup sour cream
salt, pepper to taste
Mix, chill and eat.

Beets, Peas and grilled Tri-tip....that made our meal.
and....I think I found some vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce in the freezer. mmmm.....just to round things out.