BEETS!!!!

Beets are an under-appreciated vegetable that is super delicious and full of nutrients. They are like having two vegetables in one, with the tasty beet greens on top and the plump root vegetable on the bottom. These are in season from the summer to the winter. There are endless ways to cook and prepare this healthy, tasty vegetable. They're also low in calories.

Some of the health benefits:

•     Great for cardiovascular health
•    Help lower cholesterol 
•      Have anti-aging proprieties 
•      An antioxidant
•     Has anti-inflammatory properties
•     Rich source of B-complex vitamins
•     Great source of potassium

I know most people think of beets as those crinkle cut slices that come in cans. That is so boring and bland. But cooking and preparing beets from the fresh vegetable is so much more flavorful and nutritious. Raw beets contain more vitamins and nutrients than cooked beets.There are so many ways to enjoy this sexy and nutritious vegetable.

Some ways to enjoy beets:

•      Raw in salads
•      Pickled and canned
•      As fresh beet juice (or combined with other fresh juices)
•      Roasted in the oven and served as a side dish
•      Steamed (this is the best way to preserve most the of nutrients in it)
•     The beet greens can be sautéed or steamed.
•     Prepared in a soup called borscht

I also love the bright red color of the beets; it reminds me of love and passion and is perfect for the upcoming Valentines Day! But beets come in a few other colors and varieties such as; gold or yellow beets, Chioggia (an Italian heirloom beet) that looks like a bulls eye with white and red circles, and sugar beets which are white and are processed to make table sugar.

Beets, beets and more beets please. This vegetable is so much fun to make, delicious to eat and so very healthy. I hope you try some beets today and have a Beet-riffic Foodgasm!

Recently, I appeared on "You and Me This Morning" and WCIU preparing a beet appetizer. If you missed the episode, you can watch it here.  I posted the recipe for Roasted Beet Napoleans in an earlier blog post.

Also, here's a beet soup from another post.

So what is your favorite way to have beets?