Beets. It's What's For Dinner.

Did you know that you can eat the greens from beets? Neither did I. Apparently you can, and not only are they tasty, they are FULL of vitamins A, C, iron and calcium. Not to mention they have lots of fiber too. So why wouldn't you want to eat them? Check out how good they look...



But what do you do with them? You could try to eat them like a salad, but uncooked, beet leaves have a bitter nasty flavor. So, I decided to cook them as I would spinach.

Here's what you need:
1 pound beet greens
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
lazy 3/4 C. of water (by lazy, I mean fill up the 3/4 cup, just not all the way)
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
Boiled and chopped beets

Here's what you do:
Cut the greens off the beets and wash them very well to make sure all the dirt has been removed. Soak the beet greens for about 20 minutes. Cut the ends off the beats, wash them well and boil for about 20 minutes. When the beats are soft, peel and chop, then set them aside. Be careful, they will be hot.

In a large skillet, melt butter. Add onions and garlic. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add water to the pan, stirring and loose particles from the bottom. Stir in the brown sugar and red pepper. Bring to a boil.

Add the beet greens and gently toss in the onion mixture so that the greens are well coated. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Uncover, stir and continue to cook, uncovered for an additional 5 minutes. The greens should be tender and smell great. Add the chopped beets and cook for about 2-3 minutes, giving the beets a chance to warm up. Serve with rice, or serve as a side dish. I paired it up with some leftover tempeh.

Non-vegetarians/vegans can add some cooked bacon for some extra meaty flavor. Mmmmm.....bacon *drool*

Note: I've now made this twice and I found that it works better with yellow beets.