Did you know that beets contain nitrates? Good nitrates that your digestive tract breaks down into nitric acid, which cause your blood vessels to relax and dilate and can support lowering your blood pressure.
Isn't that amazing?
Beautiful garden Beets can do all of that, so you want to include them in your diet and I'm going to show you a real simple way to cook them that is delicious and a great standby to have to throw into salads or to use as leftovers.
This year I planted beets, and I just went out and harvested them.
Today I’m going to show you how to cook the beet roots, but you can also cook and eat the greens.
The only caveat to eating beet greens is that they are high in oxalates. If you know you are sensitive to oxalates or you have a history of kidney stones or a family history, then you want to limit your intake of beet greens. This also includes spinach, and chard, also high in oxalates.
This year I grew beautiful variegated beets, and I’m just chopping them up into bite sized pieces. The smaller that you cut them, the quicker they are going to cook, which is something to keep in mind. If you keep them big, they're going to take a little bit longer in the oven.
I’m personally not peeling my beets because there's a lot of good fiber on the outside. In the fall, root vegetables are in season, and it's beneficial for our overall health to include root vegetables when it starts getting chilly outside.
I used to be a basket Weaver for many years, and we would harvest bark from tree branches when they were cut. We wouldn’t cut branches in the fall because it was really hard to peel the bark off of the branches because the water in the trees, instead of being out in the branches feeding the leaves, was in the roots, as the tree began to conserve energy.
So, like nature, we can eat more roots in the fall, as the energy descends downward. The colder months of the year are kidney time of year and kidneys and blood pressure are very connected. So it's nice to think of those foods as being an ally to the body.
That's the good thing about nature, we’re part of it and can make choices to be supported by it. Some of the summer fruit is warming and warming in nature, like a hot pepper, can make us sweat and cool us down. Nature is very intentional, and it serves us to pay attention and make different choices throughout the seasons.
Now I've got all my beets chopped and in a bowl. I'm going to coat them with some herbs and spices to add flavoring, and drizzle a little bit of olive oil because I'm going to roast these in a 400 degree oven till they’re fort tender.
I'll come in there and stir them every 10 minutes or so, and they should take about one half hour, or longer if you want them caramelized.
When beets get cooked they do become sweeter, so they are a little higher glycemic.
If you have blood sugar issues, be mindful of the quantity that you eat.
But, what a great way to get some natural sweetness.
So roast them in the oven for about a half hour and enjoy.
