seeing purple

I made another beet smoothie today. No, I don’t really like beets, but we had the puree in the freezer, so I feel like I’m doing the responsible thing and using them up. I hate wasting food. The thought of throwing food away makes me ill. I blame my father.

This time I tried the Garden Ginger Salad version. It called for a MUCH larger amount of beets, and celery juice. Instead of attempting to make celery juice by blending stalks and then straining out the solids (too much work!), I chose to throw it all in the blender. Perhaps a bad decision… Between the celery “stuff” and the additional beets, the apple and ginger didn’t do much to help the flavor! If yesterday’s beet/applesauce smoothie was too sweet, this one was just the opposite! I ended up adding 2 tbsp of honey, which helped. A little. I think the added celery solids pumped up the volume, so this ended up making two large drinks instead of one.

Each smoothie, with the addition of 1 tbsp of honey each, only came to 150 calories. Not bad for a little snack. Do I relish the thought of the other smoothie waiting for me in the freezer? Not really… I think beets are an OK additive for smoothies, not so much as the star of the show!

And be sure to wear an apron when making smoothies, or anything, really, with beets! I was glad I did!

On the docket for today:

-co-op photos

-errands in East Aurora (all food-related–FUN!)

-computer work at home

-salmon for dinner!

Yay for days I run a lot (three with Hadrian, then four by myself)! I’m eyeing a piece of Abigail’s leftover killer chocolate mousse birthday cake!

sliders!

My food-filled week has begun!

I started with a beet smoothie for lunch, courtesy of my new smoothie cookbook (belated post coming soon, perhaps tomorrow), then a trip to Wegmans. Glorious Wegmans.

I shopped for about four different meals, plus staples like plain lowfat yogurt and milk. I stocked up on veggies like yellow bell pepper, celery, cucumber, zucchini, a Granny Smith apple and tons of fresh herbs. Kudos to me for passing on CoffeeMate’s Coconut Creme creamer… I’ve been DYING to have some, but it only came in the large size and I still have three bottles in the fridge. Boo.

For dinner tonight? SLIDERS! I came across the recipe in Barefoot Contessa’s newest cookbook, How Easy is That?, and happened to have a pound of ground beef in my freezer.

(Photos courtesy of Andrew, who actually saved the day when he asked/reminded me to photo dinner as we were about to dig in! The lighting is HORRIBLE.)

Ina’s recipe called for a garlic, olive oil, dijon mustard and thyme mixture for the meat. YUM. I served them on hawaiian sweet rolls because they’re already tiny and I love them and it was the perfect excuse to have them. For next time, I would go easier on the olive oil. My beef is pretty lean, but I’m not sure it needed the amount specified in the recipe. If you don’t mark all over your cookbooks yet, do it! I can’t tell you how helpful some of my comments are to me the next time I make a recipe, like “use LARGE dutch oven,” or “less salt,” or “this takes more time to cook.”

Needless to say, Andrew was a HUGE fan and said that I should “star” this recipe in the book. I admit, I don’t really gravitate to burgers (at restaurants or at home), but what else do I do with ground beef? Other than a good meatloaf every once in awhile, I don’t make casseroles or anything else you’d make with ground beef. I’ve made more homemade burgers in the last couple years than ever before since we’ve been buying quarters of cows to store in the freezer.

Anyone have good ideas for ground beef, other than spaghetti and meat sauce, meatloaf or burgers? I have one more pound in our freezer here and about TEN in Andrew’s parents’ freezer!

What will tomorrow bring? Probably another beet smoothie for lunch and Ina’s herb-roasted salmon with a special orzo dish. I feel like it’s Christmas around here!

beet smoothie

Yes, you heard that right–a BEET smoothie.

It was good! Almost too sweet…probably because it should really be called an applesauce smoothie with a little bit of beet puree. But man, does a little go a LONG way in terms of color!

I loved the chewy bits of dried cranberries. I chose this smoothie because I had all the ingredients on-hand, namely the beet puree. I brought about 3/4 C of it with me with all the stuff from our freezer. I still have some beet puree left, so I’ll be trying at least two other beet smoothie “recipes” in the coming days. I’m trying, in earnest, to use up anything I can that we brought with us. Our meals this week (I’m finally going to go all-out and cook a bunch here in the apt; free hotel food be damned!) center around the last bits of random frozen meats and pantry staples.

We’re having:

-sliders with chips and fruit

-herbed salmon with orzo and tomatoes

-wheat berry salad with orange and mustard chicken

-quinoa with spinach, parsley and spring onions

The highlight of my day? GROCERY SHOPPING!