Simple Seasoned Beets 

High in vitamin C and fiber and low in calories, beets are a very healthy vegetable. 

This simple boiled beet recipe with a 5< minute seasoning makes great additions to salads and sandwiches, as a side dish to dinner tables, or to something like the chickpea bowl recipe coming up.  

Peeling the beets is quite easy with this trick of running cold water over the freshly cooked beets. This trick also works for potatoes, turnips, rutabaga, or pretty much any other root vegetable.

With a sweet and savory taste and a gorgeous red/magenta color, these beets can brighten both the flavor and visual appeal of many meals. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 bunch (6 small or 3 large) red beets 
• About 1 Tablespoon vinegar or lemon  
• 2 teaspoons honey or sugar 
• Ground back pepper 
• Salt 

Method: 

1—Wash beets and remove stems. Save beet leaves to eat raw in salads or to cook.

2—Fill a pot of water and bring to a boil. Lightly salt the water (optional). Add beets (make sure the water covers them completely for even cooking), and simmer for 20-45 minutes, depending on the size of the beets, until a fork can be inserted into a beet easily. 

3—When ready, pour beets into a colander and rinse with cold water until the beets are cool enough to hold. With the cold water still running over your beet, use your hands to rub the skin off to expose the smooth flesh. 

4—Wait a moment to make sure the insides of the beets are no longer scalding hot, then chop the beets into desired size (1 inch cubes for the Chick Pea Bowl recipe)

5—Season the beets with the remaining ingredients to taste!

This recipe tastes great served immediately and warm, or severed the next day and cold. 

Serving suggestion

Enjoy! Recipes and photos by Kate Mitchell

Day 4

Lessons:

I personally ate about 7 servings (my grandmother ate 1) worth of the potato fennel radish salad. It is a good salad, but I got sick of it after eating big bowls of it for 3 days straight. If I am cooking just for myself, I will think twice before making a second batch of something that serves 4. 

I actually found that many root greens (radish, turnip, and beet leaves) can be very interchangeable when raw. The summer roll recipe I was using as a model called for Boston bib lettuce, but I only had leftover beet and radish greens so I used those. I could not taste much difference in the leaves when they were combined with many other ingredients and covered in peanut sauce. 

Tips: It is really nice to have many different vegetables in the house at once. That way I can quickly grab a few leftover fennel sprigs, half a chive, or other vegetable and use that as a garnish or to spruce up leftovers. 

Today I made two recipes using celery leaves as garnishes. The leaves are noway favorite part

Made: 

Simple Seasoned Beets  

Beet and Chick Pea Bowl 

Farmers Market Summer Rolls 

Ginger Carrot spred  

Breakfast: leftover kale soup and potato salad 

Lunch: chick pea bowl 

summer rolls 

Photos by Kate Mitchel 

Pickled Kale stems and asparagus. 

This was a test to see if Kale stems could be eaten if they were pickled first. And I have always wanted to pickle asparagus…so why not pickle them both at the same time? 

The texture of both the veggies was amazing after they where done. The kale stems were crip and edible, if not a little fibrous, and the asparagus was wonderfully crip and tender. However I did not follow a brine recipe and my the flavor really was not great. I made the mistake of trying to pickle garlic scrapes along with some garlic cloves, and everything turned out too garlic-y. One or the other would have been fine. 

So I will just suggest just the method!

Method: 

1—Cut vegetables into 3-4 inch long slivers 

2—Bring some water to boil in a pot. Place vegetables in the boiling water and blanch them for 1 minute. 

3—Pour vegetables into a colander and run cold water over them to stop them from cooking further.

4—Make the brine of your choice!

5—Place vegetables in a large jar or heat safe container and pour the hot brine over them. Let sit until cool, then place in the refrigerator, after which they can be kept there for a month or more.

Enjoy!

Ginger Pickled Carrots 

Just like the dill pickled carrots I have posted before, these carrots demonstrate again how good pickled carrots can be. You can use these ginger ones in all the same ways you might use the dills, such as in salads, sandwiches, as a garnish or even just for snacking. The flavor in these however lend themselves more to Asian dishes. I used them in summer rolls (recipe coming soon) with much success. 

I also found that you can sort of “second hand pickle” by storing other vegetables in the brine after some of the carrots have been eaten. I tossed in leftover pieces of bell pepper and cucumber, and found they stayed crisp much longer then they would have otherwise. And they also had a great flavor boost as well. 

The ginger slivers, after all the pickled produce had been eaten, can be enjoyed as well. They taste just like the pickled ginger that comes along with sushi! Though the ones from this recipe are a bit more fibrous.

It is best to let them sit in the refrigerator for a day before you try them to allow the flavors to mellow and blend.

Ingredients: 

• 1 bunch carrots 
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 
• 3 Tablespoons salt 
• 3 Tablespoons sugar 
• 2 inch nob of fresh ginger 
• 3 cups water 

Method: 

1—Cut carrots into 3 inch long and 1/2 inch thick slivers 

2—Bring some water to boil in a pot. Place carrots in the boiling water to blanch them for 1 minute. 

3—Pour carrots into a colander and run cold water over them to stop them from cooking further. The goal is to have carrots that are nice and crisp but not too crunchy.

4—In a small pot, combine the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. 

5—Place the carrots in a large jar or heat safe container and pour the hot brine over them. Let sit until cool, then place in the refrigerator, after which they can be kept there for a month or more.

Enjoy! 
Photos and recipe my Kate M

How to Save Wilted Greens

-Sad Leaf :(

Oh no! I waited to long to use my kale and now it no longer has that durable, crispness. The kale seems smaller…and I do not know how well the kale will cooked in this wilted state. Ice water to the rescue! 

This trick can save nearly any leafy green that was forgotten about for one day to long. I used this for radish greens, spinach, baby card, etc.

Method: 

—1 Fill a bowl large enough to fit your greens with cold water and ice 

—2 Submerge the greens in the water and leave for 15-20 minutes, or however long it takes for the leaves to regain their crispness and body. 

—3 When done, pat dry and use! 

-Happy Leaf! :)

How to Save Wilted Greens 

-Sad leaf :(

Oh no! I waited to long to use my kale and now it no longer has that durable, crispness. The kale seems smaller…an  

Oh no! I waited to long to use my kale and now it no longer has that durable, crispness. The kale seems smaller…and I do not know how well the kale will cooked in this wilted state. Ice water to the rescue! 

This trick can save nearly any leafy green that was forgotten about for one day too long. 

-Happy leaf! :)

Method: 

—1 Fill a bowl large enough to fit your greens with cold water and ice 

—2 Submerge the greens in the water and leave for 15-20 minutes, or however long it takes for the leaves to regain their crispness and body. 

—3 When done, pat dry and use! 

Happy leaf saving!

Kale Soup

Here is a recipe using the vegetable scrap broth made from the recipe below! This soup is full of vegetables, and thanks to the chick peas and brown rice, it can be a complete meal. This soup can be enjoyed warm or cool, for dinner or for lunch. For the rice, you could substitute with another boiled grain like barley, or use some pre cooked pasta. White beans can also be subbed for the chick peas. This dish also goes great with some shredded chicken pieces as well.

Ingredients:

• One bunch kale 
• 1 bunch carrots 
• 4-6 garlic scrapes 
• 1 heaping cup cooked brown rice (add more if you wish.)
• About 2/3 of a head of celery 
• 1 can chick peas (I did not drain them)
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil 
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin 
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper 
• Salt
• 7-8 cups broth 

Method: (If going to use the scraps made from the vegetables going in making a broth, chop these vegetables before and save them in the refrigerator.)

1—Wash all produce. Cut off ends of the celery and save the leaves for for a garnish or for a latter recipe (or just eat them there). Peel away the strings and chop into 1 inch cubes. Chop carrots into 1 inch cubes/rounds. Rip kale leaves away from stem and tear into bite sized pieces. Chop garlic scrapes into 1 inch segments. 

2—Bring broth to a light boil. Add the vegetable ingredients and then reduce to a simmer. Cook until vegetables are tender, about 20-30 minutes. 

3—Add rice and chick peas. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed

Serve with grated parmesan cheese or toasted chopped nuts.

  

Enjoy!

Recipe and photos by Kate Mitchell