I’ve decided that CSA‘s are like vegetable boot camp.
Except instead of screaming “Drop and give me 20!!” they throw vegetables at you and scream “Figure out what to do with this!!”
ok, OK, I’m figuring, I’M FIGURING!
(everything I know about boot camp I learned from Full Metal Jacket, FYI)
Beets are yet another vegetable I use to just throw in the juicer because I didn’t know what else to do with them. Fortunately, I am now in the know.
FIRST, getting beets with the greens still on is like hitting a Double Word Score. One vegetable, twice the points. You can steam the greens, send them down the chute of your juicer or throw them in salad. If you are a seasoned dark, leafy green eating machine – beet greens as part of a green mix is no salad shocker.
NEXT, know that your beets will keep longer if you cut the greens off and store the root itself in a cool, dark place. If you can’t or don’t want to eat them immediately, you can buy yourself some time if you chop the greens off before you put away the root.
Me? My greens have been slashed, bagged and refrigerated until I figure out what I want to do with them. Now I’m ready to rock some funky beets.
My default beet behavior these days is to peel them, steam them until they are soft enough to stick a fork in and then store them cooked.
All prepped and ready to be used as a fast salad topping.
I’m that girl at the salad bar who always takes too many beets. I see them and think weeeeee! beeeeeets! and load up.
Speaking of weeeeee! beeeeeets! LAST but definitely not LEAST (!!) be warned that beets turn more than just your salad dressing pink. They turn all sorts of fluids pink.
In fact, let’s not mince words here: eat a few too many and you’ll be peeing pink.
I guess we can consider this the final boot camp analogy and joke about being punched in the kidney by a drill sergeant for wearing a beet costume while playing Scrabble instead of doing push ups. Isn’t that funny? NO it’s not FUNNY Private Joker. Wipe that stupid grin off your face and GO SCRUB THOSE PINK LATRINES!
Awesome! Too funny, I love your writing.
When I was a kid, I *hated* beets, perhaps because they came out of a can and were salty and mushy.
But, recently I’ve been on a “ooooo, there are beets in the salad!” kick. I didn’t know how to prepare the beets myself, so whenever I’m at a buffet or restaurant, I find myself seeking out the salad with beets. Now that you have educated me, I’ll have to try to steam the beets myself.
I’ll just be sure not to eat too many. 😉
I don’t think I ever ate a beet in my whole life prior to 2009! It’s amazing how our tastes change. Cooking skills do some amazing things too.
I don’t think I’d be able to do a CSA box all by myself – my parents aren’t really into the whole “vegetable consumption” thing; I’d really like to get one someday though. When we have beets we typically wrap them in foil and bake them at 350-400 for about an hour. I’ve never tried them steamed, so I can’t make a comparison, but I’ll try your way if you’ll try mine? 😛
Consider it done! I just picked up two more bunches of beets today so I’ve got plenty to work with. Do you eat them warm when you make them this way? Do you peel the skin off first?
And yes, a CSA definitely makes more sense when you are feeding more than just yourself – some farms offer a “half share”, so you get less but still all the fun.
My CSA pick-up yesterday included beets, too. But mine are the size of vending machine gumballs, yours are huge by comparison. It’s a good thing we have the greens to eat, I don’t feel it’s even worth it to peel beet marbles.
Then skip peeling them and just scrub them! That’s what I’ve been doing with carrots for over a year now. If they are all the same size, no need to cut them.
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I love beets. Just sayin’.
My new found favorite way to eat them, particularly those small beet gems, is roasted with olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. No peeling or dicing so very little prep.
By the way, I always peel my beets AFTER cooking. The skin slips right off, no peeling necessary.
You know, my grandmother says the same thing about peeling beets after you eat them, but I’ve been skeptical! I guess now I’m gonna have to try it.
roasted beets = life. the rest is just details.
I’ve very much enjoyed reading you. You have a wonderful talent and I love some of your recipes and ideas. BUT…can you please explain what a CSA is to a newbie like myself? It’s mentioned so many times, but I’m afraid I just don’t know what all ya’ll are talking about. Help a girl out?
Hey Pua! CSA stands for “Community Supported Agriculture” and it means that you buy a share of vegetables from a local farm for an entire growing season… I wrote a post explaining CSA’s in greater detail this winter and have linked back it in a couple of my posts, but didn’t initially in this one (I just updated it!) Check that first CSA post for more details!