I grew up in a Cuban family, and we all know that vegetables are not popular in a typical Cuban meal. In fact, if you ask many Cubans whether or not they eat vegetables, they will likely respond…well, I eat corn!!!!!
In my case, a typical dinner for me was rice, black beans, and ______ (fill in the blank, picadillo, steak, fricassee, etc.) But every once in a while, I must confess that my mother threw in some vegetables for us. Now to her defense, this was before the age of google and she really was not fluent in the health movements we know today. So just the fact that she attempted to incorporate some veggies in our meal merits a little credit, coming from her cultural background. One of the vegetables I grew up eating on occasion were canned red beets. As a child, I looooooved those red beets that my mom would serve. In my ignorance, I didn’t realize that they could be purchased in the produce section of the supermarket because I had only been exposed to the canned ones.
My love affair with red beets disappeared once I went to college and I never really ate canned red beets again. And then one day, I picked up my box of shares from Annie’s Organic Club and there they were, red beets…. the actual vegetable. Excited, I told Orlando that I loved red beets as a child and that we should make them.
Orlando made a soup which instantly became a family favorite in our home, and because we had extra beets, he roasted the rest of them and we had those on a different day. Both the roasted beets, and the soup are delicious and so healthy. We hope you enjoy this recipe.
Beet and Garlic Soup: (We got this recipe from the Whole Living Cleanse article we spoke about in a prior post. )
Makes 4 cups
Ingredients
- 6 medium beets
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 8 unpeeled garlic cloves
- 1 large leek, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1 bay leaf
- Coarse salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 4 cups of vegetable stock
Directions
- Heat oven to 400 degrees. Drizzle beets with olive oil and roast in parchment-lined foil until tender, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, drizzle garlic cloves with oil and roast in separate foil packet, about 30 minutes (add the garlic after the beets have roasted for 30 minutes and let them both cook for another 30). Unwrap beets, let cool, peel, and quarter. Squeeze garlic from skin. Set aside. (TIP: Orlando usually roasts an entire head of garlic and keeps the leftovers in the fridge for other recipes we make that week.)
- Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Add leek and cook, stirring, until tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Add beets and garlic, thyme, bay leaf, and 4 cups vegetable stock. Season with salt and pepper.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, 5 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Let cool slightly, then puree in a blender until smooth. Stir in lemon juice and adjust seasoning to taste.
A NOTE ON CANNED RED BEETS: After we had this delicious soup, I told Orlando to go to the store and buy the canned red beets. Rarely do we find a vegetable that we like in a can and I thought it would be good to keep it at the house for when we were in a pinch with the boys and needed a quick veggie. I was DEVASTATED to find out that canned red beets have added high fructose corn syrup. Can you believe that? A vegetable that is naturally sweet! These companies get a perfectly healthy vegetable that is intended to detoxify your body and use it to attack your liver instead. It is offensive and wrong and shows a huge problem with the food industry in this country. I didn’t even bother to check the ingredients of the can when we bought it because I would have never even dreamed that it would have added sugar. I didn’t remember the canned version being any sweeter than what the roasted beet tasted like now. So I served it and took an excited bite, when my taste buds screeched and said….whoa, these beets are tooooo sweet. That’s when I looked at the back of the can and realized that I was having a healthy vegetable soaking in high fructose corn syrup. It is safe to say, we do not have canned red beets at home any more.
IN CASE YOU’RE NOT CONVINCED TO TRY RED BEETS. PLEASE TAKE A MINUTE TO READ ITS HEALTH BENEFITS:
- Beets are a unique source of phytonutrients called betalains. Betanin and vulgaxanthin are the two best-studied betalains from beets, and both have been shown to provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and detoxification support. The detox support provided by betalains includes support of some especially important Phase 2 detox steps involving glutathione. Although you can see these betalain pigments in other foods (like the stems of chard or rhubarb), the concentration of betalains in the peel and flesh of beets gives you an unexpectedly great opportunity for these health benefits.
- Unlike some other food pigments, betalains undergo very steady loss from food as the length of cooking time is increased. For example, one recent study has shown the red betalain pigments in beets to be far less heat stable than red anthocyanin pigments in red cabbage. The difference between 15 minutes of steaming versus 25 minutes of steaming, or 60 minutes of roasting versus 90 minutes of roasting can be significant in terms of betalain damage. For these reasons, we recommend that you keep beet steaming times to 15 minutes or less, and roasting times under an hour.
- An estimated 10-15% of all U.S. adults experience beeturia (a reddening of the urine) after consumption of beets in everyday amounts. While this phenomenon is not considered harmful in and of itself, it may be a possible indicator of the need for healthcare guidance in one particular set of circumstances involving problems with iron metabolism. Individuals with iron deficiency, iron excess, or specific problems with iron metabolism are much more likely to experience beeturia than individuals with healthy iron metabolism. For this reason, if you experience beeturia and have any reason to suspect iron-related problems, we recommend a healthcare consult to follow up on possible issues related to iron status.
- In recent lab studies on human tumor cells, betanin pigments from beets have been shown to lessen tumor cell growth through a number of mechanisms, including inhibition of pro-inflammatory enzymes (specifically, cyclooxygenase enzymes). The tumor cell types tested in these studies include tumor cells from colon, stomach, nerve, lung, breast, prostate and testicular tissue. While lab studies by themselves are not proof of beets’ anti-cancer benefits, the results of these studies are encouraging researchers to look more closely than ever at the value of betanins and other betalains in beets for both prevention and treatment of certain cancer types. http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=49
My favorite salad ever is a raw beet salad. I’ve made it for my best friend, who was very hesitant, and she loved it too.
1/2 cup-ish sliced almonds
small celery root (you prob will find this at whole foods rather than publix. has a fennel taste with a beet-like texture. better in this recipe than fennel but you could use fennel if you can’t find celery root.)
1 golden/yellow beet
1 red beet
1/2 red onion
2 carrots
5-6 radishes
garlic clove minced
1/4 -1/2 cup lemon juice
2-4 tbspn olive oil (i make it now with NO olive oil and I think it’s just as good. but you might like it better with the oil.)
1/2 handful chopped dill
salt pepper
feta or manouri cheese
Slice the beet, carrot, onion, radishes, celery root as thin as possible on a mandolin. Toast the almonds. Toss the veggies with the almonds, plate, crumble the feta. Wisk garlic, lemon, oil, dill, s+p, pour over salad to your taste.
I usually make 3x the recipe and leave the veggies in the fridge- they keep for a surprisingly long time after slicing. You can also make chips with the root veggies once they’re sliced thin- sooooo good.
Thanks Lana. I have to try this recipe!