The Beet Goes On...

I think beets get a bad rap. I'm already working on cooking class proposals for Spring 2009, and had beets on the brain. I was considering sprinkling in some of my favorite beet recipes into my curriculum, but then suddenly paused. Why ? 

Beets are fantastic! They are full of flavor, color and great nutrition. Beets are the sweetest vegetable I know, next to carrots. Eh. What's so cool about carrots? You can mash, pickle, roast, saute, drink and puree beets. Not to mention, you can dye other foods with beets and even make interesting stamps with them.

Hesitation to adding beets into my cooking classes derives from most people having an utter disdain for them. A canned beet taste NOTHING like a fresh beet. It's like comparing a fresh pineapple to a canned one. They are from 2 totally different planets and there's simply no comparison. It's just that most people can stomach a canned pineapple, but not a canned beet.

Beets just don't translate into anything appealing to the average joe. All I am saying is, give beets a chance. If you totally hate them.... just give them a second, third, or fourth chance until you like them!

Top 5 Reasons I LOVE BEETS:

1. Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Ravioli with White Truffle Oil atop Sunflower Sprouts.(My  personal recipe that I'm extremely proud of,  and I try make this as often as possible.)

2. Fresh beet juice blended with a few slices of honey crisp apple and organic honey.

3. Beets are low in fat, but high in Vitamins A & C.

4. Beets are an excellent food for pregnant women. (I have 5 friends that are preggers so this is right up their alley.)

5. Here is my educational tid-bit: Research in Hungary indicated that beet juice and its powdered form slowed the development of tumors. A Dr. Alexander Ferenczi observed beets aiding cancer patients. He also concluded that beets seems to help animals fight cancer too!