Betty Crocker How To Cook Beets

Total Time: 1 hr 10 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 2
• 3 -4 whole beets
• salt
• vinegar

Recipe

• 1 [if you can, buy beets with the stems and greens still attached, as they come out of the ground.
• 2 ask the produce manager at your grocery or health food store to buy organic beets with the nourishing leaves attached!]].
• 3 cut off all but 2 inches of the green stems.
• 4 save the leaves because they are very nutritious and can be steamed, sauteed or shredded in salads!
• 5 leave the beets whole with 2 inches of stems at the top and root ends at the bottom. this prevents the red color from seeping out into the water [and all over the place too!].
• 6 place in a saucepan covered with salted water to taste (with at least 1 tsp of vinegar).
• 7 boil until tender [usually, 30-45 minutes, depending on the size of the beets]. boiling can take up to 60 minutes for larger beets.
• 8 drain and run cold water over beets. the skins will slip right off with the root ends, but make sure you wear kitchen gloves so your hands don't turn red.
• 9 to serve, you can add melted butter, salt and pepper, basil, savory, caraway seeds or sprinkle with minced chives or parsley.
• 10 note: i prefer to steam my vegetables in an oster mechanical food steamer available cheap with free shipping from amazon.com - so i peel and slice mine for faster cooking as i do for all potatoes.
• 11 but you can steam this in a covered pot with a steamer insert also - just make sure the water doesn't evaporate: bring the salted water with more vinegar added to a boil and add the steamer insert and beets. cover and steam on medium or medium low heat until they are your desired tenderness.
• 12 one thing is for sure - never peel or cut the stems or roots if steaming or boiling whole - it's so much easier not to have red dye and red water dripping everywhere - and the skins come right off easily once cooked. peeling is a waste of time and makes a mess!