Marinated Beets

You either love 'em or hate 'em.  I happen to love them.  I like the texture, color, and intensity of a marinated beet.  My heart BEETS for them!!  I'm all about the pun when I am preparing my beets, so you better believe I'm singing Michael Jackson's "Beat It" over and over again.  That's when my daughter Margaret walks in and usually says, "You're making beets again."  I'm so passionate about this vegetable that I contributed a blog post on beets for my friend Kate's activewear company called Dimvaloo.  You can find it here.  I wanted to include the recipe on my own blog as well so nobody misses a beat with beets. 

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Marinated Beets

Ingredients

• 1 bunch beets (about 5-6 medium sized beets)
• 2 T. balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/2 t. salt
• 1/2 t fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 t dijon mustard
• 5 T. olive oil

Take leaves off beets and save.  These are great for sauteing in olive oil and are highly nutritious as well.  Peel beets and cover with water in a saucepan. (Or, you can boil beets unpeeled and when done, gently rub skins off under cold water.  Either way works fine.)   Boil gently for about 15-20 minutes or until tender. Remove beets from water and slice into quarters or the size you desire. In a bowl, stir together balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and dijon mustard.  Slowly add olive oil and blend using a whisk or immersion blender.  Pour over beets and toss.  Add more salt and pepper to taste.  Enjoy them on their own or added to your favorite mixed greens along with roasted pecans and fresh goat's cheese. 

If you choose to boil beets with skins on, you can simply peel skin from cooked beet once cooled. It's a little messy, but just as easy as peeling.

Beets are loaded with vitamins like folate, vitamin C, vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B-6 and pantothenic acid. Beets are also high in minerals like manganese, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, copper and selenium.  That's quite a nutritional bang for your buck.

BEWARE:  T.M.I.
I also want to give everyone the head's up that once you eat this delicious vegetable, it's beautiful red color may play out in your potty.  After enjoying beets several nights in a row, I woke up with what I thought was blood in my urine.  Gasp!!!  The potty was reddish pink!  I gave myself 3 days to live while I looked up my doctor's phone number.  Then I racked my brain and tried to figure out what I was doing different because I had no symptoms.  I know that many vegetables can affect urine (think asparagus!).  Sure enough, I searched online and beets were the culprit.  So I don't have a kidney tumor after all.  Just those silly beets playing a trick on me.  Read about it here and save yourself a trip to the doctor!!