this post is dedicated to a dear friend of mine...L. haha, i know, that could be a number of dear friends, but this L actually reads this blog still (and so does her dad!), so i thought i'd write a little bit about her. and the foods she has introduced me to. :)
growing up, my mom made food from scratch. we didn't really eat food that came in a can, box, jar, frozen. there were a few exceptions, like spam, which i didn't care for. in junior high school, i was at my friend R's house, and that was the first time i had had boxed mac and cheese. i thought it was disgusting and wanted to barf. yeah, if that's what i was missing out on, well, that was fine with me!! during that time, my friend M also introduced me to vienna sausages...another gag-fest. gross, seriously, how do ppl eat this stuff?!
it was my sophomore year in high school, i was at my friend L's house, and i had my first frozen tater tot. EVER. i kid you not. i never ate school cafeteria food, i always brought my lunch. i LOVED it. i wanted my mom to buy me frozen tater tots. she thought i was insane. why would i eat frozen potatoes? were they really that good?? unfortunately, she didn't buy them for me, but L was always gracious with her's. :) that was sort of the beginning of my processed food adventure, really.
and now, here we are, many many many years later, and L is STILL introducing me to good stuff. we recently visited her and her family in california. she made us a delicious dinner, including a salad with roasted beets, which i've never had. okay, here's my deal with beets. i always thought they were gross cuz the only experience i had with them was as a child, maybe 8, being at a family friend's house, an old couple that my dad knew since he was in the military in korea, and they always ate canned beets, and told me to eat them. GROSS. just the thought of canned beets is making me gag. blech. then when W and i were visiting friends in berlin, i had beets again, but this time, fresh beets, juiced (with a bunch of other fruits and veggies). YUM. since that trip, whenever i got beets in my organic delivery box, i just juiced them. YUM. but that trip to see L...it was life changing. roasted beets are the best thing ever. EVER! now i can't stop eating them, and i crave them seriously every other day.
so here's what i do for my new favorite salad. i roast some beets. golden beets are good too, but i prefer the regular red beets. i think they're sweeter. i don't really have a recipe i follow, there seems to be a dozen different ways to prepare these. so i just roast them in the oven, 425 degrees, for about 30-45 minutes, depending on how big i've decided to cut the pieces. stir them periodically. the thing with beets...the longer you roast them, the sweeter they get, all carmelized, like candy. delicious!! but roast them too long and they get charred, like burnt candy. not so delicious. so watch them carefully. in a big bowl, i put some baby mixed greens, drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar, a dash of sea salt and some fresh ground black pepper, toss. top with the roasted beets, crumbled goat cheese and walnuts. i could eat this salad every day and be perfectly happy. :)
my salad isn't floating, it's in a glass bowl. :)
growing up, my mom made food from scratch. we didn't really eat food that came in a can, box, jar, frozen. there were a few exceptions, like spam, which i didn't care for. in junior high school, i was at my friend R's house, and that was the first time i had had boxed mac and cheese. i thought it was disgusting and wanted to barf. yeah, if that's what i was missing out on, well, that was fine with me!! during that time, my friend M also introduced me to vienna sausages...another gag-fest. gross, seriously, how do ppl eat this stuff?!
it was my sophomore year in high school, i was at my friend L's house, and i had my first frozen tater tot. EVER. i kid you not. i never ate school cafeteria food, i always brought my lunch. i LOVED it. i wanted my mom to buy me frozen tater tots. she thought i was insane. why would i eat frozen potatoes? were they really that good?? unfortunately, she didn't buy them for me, but L was always gracious with her's. :) that was sort of the beginning of my processed food adventure, really.
and now, here we are, many many many years later, and L is STILL introducing me to good stuff. we recently visited her and her family in california. she made us a delicious dinner, including a salad with roasted beets, which i've never had. okay, here's my deal with beets. i always thought they were gross cuz the only experience i had with them was as a child, maybe 8, being at a family friend's house, an old couple that my dad knew since he was in the military in korea, and they always ate canned beets, and told me to eat them. GROSS. just the thought of canned beets is making me gag. blech. then when W and i were visiting friends in berlin, i had beets again, but this time, fresh beets, juiced (with a bunch of other fruits and veggies). YUM. since that trip, whenever i got beets in my organic delivery box, i just juiced them. YUM. but that trip to see L...it was life changing. roasted beets are the best thing ever. EVER! now i can't stop eating them, and i crave them seriously every other day.
so here's what i do for my new favorite salad. i roast some beets. golden beets are good too, but i prefer the regular red beets. i think they're sweeter. i don't really have a recipe i follow, there seems to be a dozen different ways to prepare these. so i just roast them in the oven, 425 degrees, for about 30-45 minutes, depending on how big i've decided to cut the pieces. stir them periodically. the thing with beets...the longer you roast them, the sweeter they get, all carmelized, like candy. delicious!! but roast them too long and they get charred, like burnt candy. not so delicious. so watch them carefully. in a big bowl, i put some baby mixed greens, drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar, a dash of sea salt and some fresh ground black pepper, toss. top with the roasted beets, crumbled goat cheese and walnuts. i could eat this salad every day and be perfectly happy. :)
my salad isn't floating, it's in a glass bowl. :)
posted by joyce at
8:19 PM
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