Pink Birthday Cake

Despite many peoples’ doubts, I did allow my daughter to eat cake on her first birthday. As much as I value good nutrition, sometimes I value tradition even more. So the little peanut got a big slice of cake on a red platter that read "You Are Special Today," and she enjoyed every second of it. However, it was a homemade cake using only the finest organic ingredients. Obviously.

I wanted to make her a pig cake, because her favorite book is about farm animals. But last I checked, pink food coloring isn’t all-natural and organic. So, I was forced to get creative.

When I think pink, I think beets. I have cooked with beets often enough to know that their juice is vibrant, indicating loads of nutrients. So I immediately scoured the internet for ideas on using beet juice to dye frosting, and pieced together a method that ended up working quite well.

Ingredients

2-3 cans organic beets (I used three, but only ended up needing about half of the reduction to get the right shade of pink)

Add beet juice to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat slightly and keep at a simmer/low boil, stirring occasionally, until only about 1-3 tablespoons of beet juice remain. Pour into frosting.

Note: Beet juice reduction will harden eventually at room temperature, so I recommend making the frosting first and then the dye, and adding it right away to the frosting.

This was so easy and made the perfect shade of pink for the pig cake. It did not alter the taste of the frosting at all, and I felt good that my daughter was not getting any artificial colors on her birthday!

I recommend saving the unused beets and adding them to soups, salads, chili, or even juicing them.

What's a Turnip?

I am embarrassed to say that this nutritionist has NO CLUE what the difference is between a turnip and a beet. We got both (I think) in our CSA last week, and as I was juicing them Ed asked, “Is that a beet?” to which I replied “I have no idea.” I know what a beet is, and how to identify one, because we eat them a lot at our house. I always thought turnips were similar, but I’ve never cooked with them before so I didn’t really know.

My mom grew and cooked tons of different veggies when we were growing up, so I always felt like I had a good knowledge base of different foods. But for some reason I never picked up on turnips, and in my head they are similar to beets but in reality I don’t know! So, I thought I’d devote this Friday to solving this mystery (well, it’s a mystery to me, anyway, probably not to the rest of you!).

According to Wikipedia (my trusty source), a turnip is a root vegetable that is known for its whitish bulb or root. Most are white with a little red, purple or green on the top of the root, and the interior flesh is entirely white. Baby turnips come in red, yellow and orange and can be eaten raw, like a radish. It also says that turnips are often grown as feed for livestock. Hmmm.

Turnip greens are commonly eaten because they are so nutrient-dense. Just 1 cup contains 650% of your daily vitamin K; 150% of vitamin A; and loads of vitamin C, folate, fiber and calcium. The actual root part of the veggie is full of vitamin C, folate, fiber, calcium, vitamin B6 and copper, and is part of the cruciferous family of vegetables (along with cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, and more). So, it has the same cancer-fighting and other health benefits as these other veggies. Learning all of this makes me want to eat more turnips!

So this mystery vegetable I was juicing was completely red on the outside, but mostly white with some red stripes on the inside. I’m guessing it was more turnip than beet, because beets are so vibrant on the inside. But it didn’t look 100% turnip to me… maybe we’ll call it a turbeet.

Well, at least now I know the difference! I am a little embarrassed about my lack of knowledge but I figure I’m allowed some of that since I’m still a student…

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Juicing for Allergies

Juicing has become big recently. Not only are people juicing more at home, but juice bars are popping up all over the place, and smoothie places are beginning to serve freshly-squeezed fruit and vegetable juices as well. Some people juice daily – it’s sort of like their multivitamin for the day. I’m more of an irregular juicer – I have a book called The Juicing Bible, but it’s more like a juice doctor for me. It has a juice remedy for any condition – hangovers, stress, allergies, indigestion, nerve support, and adrenal fatigue, among others.

Juicing is a way of separating the liquid of a fruit, vegetable or herb from the solids. The enzymes, phytochemicals, vitamins A, C and E, iron, copper, magnesium, potassium, sodium and iodine found within a whole fruit or vegetable are often times trapped inside the indigestible fiber and therefore are not wholly absorbed by the body when eaten. However, when juiced, these nutrients become extremely available to us and will enter our cells within 10-15 minutes after we drink the juice. Juicing is particularly helpful when we need to save our energy, such as when we are recovering from a sickness or right before or after a workout. This is because it takes very little energy to digest juices, yet we still get tons of nutrients from them.

Juicing has a detoxifying and cleansing effect on our digestive tract and colon. This helps increase nutrient absorption and jump-start our metabolism. Many believe that one glass of fresh fruit and vegetable juice daily can help boost immunity, increase energy, strengthen the bones, clear up the skin and lower our overall risk for disease. Obviously it is also important to consume whole fruits and vegetables, in addition to the juice. Both will work together to create a well-balanced diet.

The pulp of the juice can be saved and used for baking or smoothies, or it can be composted.

Since summer allergies are in full effect, I thought I’d provide some allergy juicing tips today. Asthmatic symptoms are caused by inflammation. Inflammation is the body’s response to an injury – it's way to begin the healing process. Allergies tend to reflect chronic inflammation, and certain foods can reduce this inflammation greatly. Healing foods for allergies include apples, blueberries, grapes, mangoes, oranges, raspberries, strawberries, asparagus, beets, carrots, onions, red and green bell peppers, spinach and watercress. The flavonoids and antioxidants in these foods help promote a proper immune response to the environment. Essential fatty acids from foods like fish, flax and walnuts are also anti-inflammatory and can help with allergy discomfort.

Allergy Juice

3 beets, with greens

1 apple

½ cup berries

1 cup spinach

Parsley

I decided to make this juice today because we’ve gotten so many beets lately from our CSA. I’ve made beet soup, beet salads, and beet slaw, so I think it’s time to juice a few.

Tomorrow I’ll provide a few more easy juicing recipes, including our favorite around here, the Hangover Helper!

Recipe: Sweet Beets

Just a quick recipe today for those who grow beets in their gardens; have gotten beets in their CSA box; or just want to eat more beets!

We got mini beets in our CSA box on Monday – only about 6 of them. Ed isn’t crazy about beets, so I figured I’d just eat them myself for lunch or dinner one day. But when I prepared them last night, I decided to serve them for dinner to see what he thought. The sauce I used is something I made up myself, and I added the green onions because they also were in our CSA box. I apologize for not having any photos of the final product – in all honesty, I didn’t think they’d turn out to be anything special, and certainly not anything blogworthy. But when Ed (who, let me remind you, hates beets) said he liked the beet salad and cleaned his plate, I decided I should blog it! Unfortunately, at this point, all the beets were eaten so photos were not a possibility.

It’s fast, easy, and kids may even like this.

Sweet Beets

Beets (I used 6 mini beets because that’s all I had, but when I do it again I’ll probably use 2-3 regular beets)

Raw honey

Butter

Ginger (fresh or ground - fresh will be tastier)

Soy sauce

Green onions

Steam (or roast) and peel beets. Cube into bite-size pieces, or smaller if you’re using the mini beets.

In a small saucepan, heat butter and raw honey until melted. I used about 1 tsp of each because I didn’t have many beets, but I’d use more if I had bigger beets. Add ginger and soy sauce (to taste) until well combined, then pour over cubed beets. Top with chopped green onions. Serve hot or cold.

Again, sorry for not having photos but I swear this is yummy! Oh, and don't forget to sautee the beet greens with eggs for breakfast the next morning!

Beets: Health (and other) Benefits

It was brought to my attention that I neglected to include any information in yesterday’s post about the health benefits of beets. This is too important to let slide so here they are:

Beets actually have the highest sugar content of all vegetables, which is one reason they make such a good choice for homemade baby food. Babies will be drawn to the sweetness and the bright colors.

Beets are very high in folate, magnesium, potassium, fiber and vitamin C.

As many of you mothers know, folate is a very important nutrient during pregnancy. 1 cup of boiled beets provide about a third of your daily recommended folate intake. Folate helps ensure normal tissue growth for your baby, and is required for spinal column development.

The magnesium in beets helps increase calcium absorption, which is important for prevention of osteoporosis. I think I’ve mentioned before that without proper levels of magnesium, calcium is not absorbed and therefore you do not get the health benefits associated with it. Many people eat plenty of calcium but not enough magnesium, so still suffer from calcium deficiency.

The vitamin C in beets is beneficial in many ways, including the prevention and treatment of asthma symptoms and supporting healthy structure of capillaries.

Beets are known to help protect against heart disease and certain types of cancers. Like many other brightly-colored fruits and vegetables, beets contain high amounts of antioxidants. These help to eliminate toxins from the body inside the liver (the body’s primary detoxification organ). Toxin buildup is what eventually leads to cancer and other disease. Some studies have even shown that beet juice can slow down formation of tumors in the body and inhibit cell mutations in the stomach. The antioxidants are also helpful in prevention of cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Many of you have expressed interest in more information about cholesterol. Consumption of beets is associated with a lowering of cholesterol, lowering of triglyceride level and blood pressure, and increase in HDL (good) cholesterol. If you or someone in your family has high cholesterol, beets may be a good food to add to your shopping list.

Golden beets have a milder taste than red beets, but are very similar. My mom has become famous in the St. Paul area for a golden beet recipe she has perfected. Maybe, if we’re lucky, she’ll share it with us soon! Another great golden beet recipe, which even Ed, the beet-hater, liked, is just a simple salad consisting of any type of greens, roasted or boiled golden beets, goat cheese (the more the better), all topped with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of herbs.

Home Remedies?

Beets detoxify the blood and renew it with minerals and natural sugars. This may be why beets were traditionally used to treat fevers. Beets are also good home remedies for constipation and digestive disorders, and beet greens are sometimes used on wounds to aid in healing.

Speaking of beet greens…

The beet greens contain high amounts of iron, calcium, vitamin A and vitamin C. Only eat them if they look healthy. They will keep for 4-5 days in your fridge in a plastic bag. Use them as you would any other type of greens. This morning, I put them into my smoothie along with avocado, banana, flax meal, tofu and kefir.

Sugar

About 30% of our sugar today comes from sugar beets (the other 70% from cane). Beets are harvested, the sugar is diffused out of the vegetable, and goes through a refining and crystallization process to turn it into sugar.

Other Uses?

Meet Daniel:

Daniel lives in St. Louis, and brought to may attention an alternative use for beets. Apparently, the Gateway to the West has been receiving some snow lately, and the salt they are using to de-ice the roads is not working. They have tried adding beet juice to the salt, and have seen some success. They are using a byproduct of the extraction of sugar from sugar beets, which is a thick, syrupy molasses. This sticky substance helps keep salt confined to the roads for longer time periods, resulting in more melting of the ice. It’s a rather new technique that is mainly used in the Midwest. So to all my St. Louis readers, I’d watch out for sticky shoes, boots and pant hems if I were you!

Recipe: Beet Soup

I am on Twitter, as I've mentioned in the past. And I am pretty obsessed with it, because I follow amazing food bloggers, my favorite Denver restaurants, and other people who are interested in holistic nutrition. From all of these people, I learn so much about health, nutrition, food and cooking. If you're not on Twitter, I highly recommend signing up. There is so much out there to learn!

Yesterday I came across a tweet from a girl I follow, @TheBlissfulChef. She has a wonderful blog here, but happened to be guest blogging here for @GreenBlossoms.

Have I confused you yet? Not if you're a fellow tweeter!

Anyway, the recipe looked like something I wanted to try: Beet Soup. I know that Ed hates beets. I once made a golden beet salad and he ate it up and seemed to have changed his mind on beets, but I think the large amounts of goat cheese topping the beets may have had something to do with it.

So, knowing I was about to cook something my husband wouldn't like, I bundled up and walked through the [extremely beautiful] snow to Whole Foods to stock up on beets, carrots, dill and bay leaves.

I changed Chef Christy's recipe only slightly by adding extra vinegar, extra lemon juice, and also some grated ginger. I think it was my attempt to mask the taste of beets so Ed would eat the soup, but they were good additions. Also, I saved all the beet greens so I can juice them for breakfast. There are so many important nutrients in the beet greens so please don't throw them out! You can put them into smoothies, on salads, or sautee them with your eggs in the morning.

Recipe

1 tbsp olive oil

2 carrots, chopped

2 red beets, peeled and chopped (I used red and golden beets)

6 cups water

1 cup red lentils, washed and drained

3 bay leaves

Juice of 1 lemon (I used 2)

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Dash of pepper and sea salt

Sour cream or yogurt and chopped dill for garnish

Heat oil in large soup pan over medium flame. Add carrots and beets and a pinch of sea salt and saute for 3 minutes. Add water, lentils, bay leaves, and another pinch of sea salt. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer, partially covered, 25-30 minutes.

Remove bay leaves. Puree in small batches in blender and return to pot. Stir in vinegar, lemon and pepper.

Serve warm or cold, garnished with sour cream or yogurt and chopped dill.

Note: Take the instruction to "puree in small batches in blender" very literally. My first "batch" was too large, and let's just say I am still finding red speckles on my kitchen walls, and our kitchen rug may or may not be on its way to the cleaners... (luckily it's an oriental rug, so the red blends right in!).

I served the soup warm, with plain low fat yogurt and dill. We ate it with the shitake, cremini and oyster mushrooms we got Saturday morning at Denver's indoor farmer's market (delicious!). Ed thought the soup was okay, not great. But, he doesn't love beets. I love beets and loved the soup. And I found it very satisfying to have a dinner that consisted of three different veggies - carrots, beets and mushrooms. I was completely full and satisfied for the rest of the night! If you like beets, I definitely recommend the recipe.

Thanks Christy for providing such a nutritional recipe!