Baby Beets & Greens w/ Lemon Dill Cream

It’s that wonderful time again, time for young baby beets to be plucked fresh from the garden. If you are lucky enough to have grown your own beet patch, I commend you.  Me? I’ll be scouring the farmers markets for these since I just can’t get enough of these tasty morsels.  My wee garden patch didn’t quite have room for beets.  The nice thing about preparing beets is they need not be fancy as they are packed with their own sweet flavour. I often just grate them raw and pile them high on my salad and sometimes I make a juice cocktail or a even a pudding with them-yum!  Some days I choose to roast or steam and top my salad to make a delicious meal or side dish. Beets provide a good source of these minerals: folate, maganese, potassium & copper. They are also a source of phytonutrients, one in particular called betalains that are found in deep coloured foods but especially beets.  Betalains are anti-inflammatory, detoxifying and provide antioxidants to combat free radicals.  However, it’s important to consider your cooking time as the less time you steam or roast the more nutrients you retain.  Ideally, steam quartered beets for 15 mins to yield a nice tender beet and roast for less than one hour.  And don’t forget the beet tops–these are rich in minerals and chlorophyll either raw or cooked.  I use them for juicing or I steam or saute them and and serve with the beets as in this recipe.

If you’ve eaten a serving of beets before you may have experienced a noticeable reddening of your urine called beeturia. This is not harmful but can be an indicator for improper iron metabolism that might be good to mention to your nutritionist or Naturopath so that you can follow up and monitor your iron levels.

Consuming these yummy burgundy beets is also great for colon cleansing. And….bonus… while you are at it you can do a transit test–multi-task with your meal–by noting your bodies processing time.  Your stool should show signs within 24-48 hrs.  If not your transit time may be on the sluggish side. Examine your activity level and your ratio of concentrated foods to high water content foods as well as your water intake, adjust for a week or two. Then try some beets again and it should improve.  If not maybe you need a veggie feast or some colon hydrotherapy which can be life changing!

Okay enough of that potty talk! I couldn’t resist pairing these baby beets with some gorgeous fresh dill and whipping up a creamy dressing to drizzle on top.  This dressing doubles as a great dip for raw veggies so you might even want to double the recipe while you’re at it.  It will keep for 2 to 3 days in the fridge.

Baby Beets and Greens with Lemon Dill Cream
*** highly alkaline

yield: Salad for two

1/4 cup fresh dill, packed
1/4 cup extra virgin cold pressed olive oil
1/4 cup diced zucchini
1/4 cup hemp seeds or
1/4 cup raw cashews, soaked 20 mins
1/4 cup of filtered water
juice of 1/2 lemon (1 1/2 tbsp)
generous pinch of Himalayan salt
1 dozen baby beets with greens
1-2 tbsp extra virgin cold pressed olive oil
pinch of Himalayan salt
4 cups baby lettuces

Method

Start with the dressing so the flavours can mingle.  Place dill, olive oil, zucchini, hemp seeds, cashews, water, lemon juice and salt into blender and combine until smooth and creamy, scraping sides of vessel as needed. Pour into small  pitcher ready for serving.

Trim and wash beet greens and stems and scrub beets well. I like to scrape a little near the top of the beet with a pairing knife if needed.  Cut into quarters if small or into sixths if larger. Chop all the greens into one inch pieces.  Place beets into steamer basket and steam over boiling water for 10 minutes. Add beet greens and stems and steam for 4 to 5 minutes. Place all the beet goodies into a medium serving dish and toss with 1-2 tbsp of olive oil and a pinch of salt.

To serve divide the baby lettuces between two large plates, spoon beets and greens over top. Garnish with snipped dill and serve with creamy dill dressing.

I hope you can find yourself some gorgeous looking beets to cook up.  Keep your eyes peeled for some of the unique beets like striped candy cane ones or golden beets.  You might even get lucky and come across white beets! Who knew?

I’ve love to hear about your favourite beet recipe or if you’ve grown your own gorgeous beets. Leave me a message below or say hi over on Instagram

Have a great week.

xo

Your Alkaline Sister

Julie