Saturday, September 2, 2017

Golden Yellow Beets

This post is my ode to the golden or yellow beet.  I'm not giving you a recipe.  I was scrolling through my Facebook feed a few weeks ago when I saw my cousin had posted a meal she made. I'm not usually one to look at other people's dinners but this one looked interesting.  When I saw her description of it, I knew that I had to taste it for myself.  She described a lemony concoction of chicken, green beans and golden beets.  Well, I had never even heard of golden beets but they sounded like a root vegetable that I needed to try.  I'm so glad that I did.  I even got my 89 year old mother to try them which wasn't easy.  She is very picky.  I made the meal in a very similar way to my cousin's description but instead of chicken thighs, I used chicken breast.  It was fantastic. 

My cousin told me that she didn't have an actual recipe so I basically "winged" it (excuse the pun).  My dish was made in the oven with peeled and sliced golden beets on the bottom of an oiled baking tray, on top of that I put the chicken breast, then I added the green beans.  I had par boiled the beans first.  I poured some olive oil and lemon juice on top.  I also minced up a few garlic cloves and added them to the mix.  I added some spices (just go for the obvious: salt, pepper, Italian basil, oregano, onion, etc.).  I wished that I had added a few onions - white or even Vidalia.  That could have added a little more sweetness to my dinner. 

In any event, my mom and I really loved this meal. We loved it so much that I have been experimenting with Golden Beets and so has she. You have to understand that neither my mom nor I have ever been particularly fond of any type of beet.  In fact, I didn't really know there was any other type of beet than the red, kind of bloody looking beets. That ordinary beet kind of disgusts me. I can't even take the smell of them.  I know, I know, many people love them but I am not one of them.  I have been trying to get away from eating potatoes. As much as I love them, they aren't really as healthy as I would like. I did go low carb for about two years. I wish I had known about yellow beets when I was doing my low carb diet.  In fact, I want to start that again soon. I will be adding yellow or golden beets to my repertoire frequently now that I know and love that ugly root vegetable.  Please try them. You may have to search for them at a grocery store. We had to go to several different stores but if you go to a farmers market or Whole Foods, you shouldn't have any problem finding them. 

Enjoy!