Raw Beet Salad with Sauteed Beet Greens

 

With the unseasonably hot weather we've been having the central Indiana, Brandon, the mastermind of our kitchen, whipped up a vibrant and delicious salad for dinner tonight.  We had been running errands earlier that afternoon and had a sandwich at a specialty shop for an early dinner, so this purposefully a light dinner.

At the start of the year, we began subscribing to the Green BEAN Delivery again to have fresh organic produce delivered to our front door.  It has been very successful in prodding us to try new recipes to use the produce we are being dosed out weekly.  We had cabbage and oranges left from last week's box and received beets and carrots in this week box.

Brandon found a Raw Beet Salad recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.  He followed the recipe for Raw Beet Salad with Cabbage and Orange. He added some shredded carrot too.  This salad was really easy to eat, mild tasting acid, crunchy, and a tiny bit sweet.  We added a little side of bread and butter.  Cheese would've been good too.

With the left over beet leaves and stems, Brandon rinsed them, then chopped, and sauteed them in a little oil and garlic.  These beet greens were surprisingly mild and easy to eat.

Surprise, surprise, the picky boy who has begun developing a few food jags, dove right into this bowl of veggies.  Do be warned - beets stain.  The beet juice that Aidan got on his shirt from using it in place as a napkin - it's not going to wash out.  I really don't care if clothes get stained.  He's a little kid, they stain things.

Two Nutritional Benefits of the Dish:
High nutritional density based on color alone.  The deep green and red indicate that these foods a high in protective antioxidants.  Fat soluble Vitamins A resides in these color foods.  Eating Vitamin A sources with some fat, like butter or the oil in the dressing. helps our body to absorb the fat soluble vitamins well.
A plate full of veggies like this is also packed with fiber from the produce but especially the raw beets and raw cabbage.



I'm linking up to Sorta Crunchy's Green Resource!

Cake Fail; Tres Leche

The stars all aligned the other night for cake baking.  I had all of the ingredients on hand.  The kitchen was clean.  The boys were cooperating.  I set to work putting together a Tres Leche cake by American’s Test Kitchen (ATK).  (There is nothing like a clean kitchen to inspire me to bake something…)

The first problem I had was the browning of the sweetened condensed milk (SCM).  ATK instructs to microwave the SCM for ~15 mintutes.  I didn’t stop to stir enough and had a lava flow of hot, sticky SCM in the microwave.  Had to begin that messy process all over…

The cake took longer to bake than I was expecting but my oven isn’t very reliable or accurate.  I really need a new oven thermometer.  I may have over baked the cake.

After the cake had baked and cooled a bit, I followed the instructions to poke holes in the cake sponge, and then pour the caramelized milk mixture over the top.  The ‘milk’ is meant to be absorbed by the cake.  My milk mixture did not absorb well.  See it just sitting on top of the cake?    That’s what makes me wonder if I baked the cake too long or let the caramelized milk mixture cool too much so it didn’t flow and absorb like it was intended to???

I was counting on this cake tasting great - rich and caramely.  It wasn’t.  The taste fell flat.  There were notes of cinnamon and caramel.  I feel like a little rum would’ve deepened the flavor.  Maybe a little salt too?

Over all I give it a “meh,” not really worth all of the effort.  We hardly ate any of it.  Cake fail.