sweets and beets (ulcer diet/GERD-safe!)

One of the BEST meals since my diagnosis!

+ sweet potatoes and yams – roasted, boiled, steamed, or otherwise cooked
+ beets – roasted, boiled, steamed, canned, or otherwise cooked
+ fresh herbs (I used dill, but anything would work here)
+ plain non-fat yogurt (if you’re not on a restricted diet, I think sour cream, normal plain yogurt, or even bits of goat cheese would be perfect here!)
+ (optional) if you’re allowed to eat lemon, squeeze some fresh lemon juice! (I can’t, so I didn’t, and it was still great!)

Prepare this just as you’re imagining. Combine cooked, cooled ingredients with herbs and yogurt, and serve.

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based on this dilled beet salad, which was in turn inspired by the incredible cold Ukranian style borscht at Gene’s sausage shop on the far west side of Chicago (RIP GENE’S <3) as well as a recipe from a defunct food blog called Lime and Barley

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Used cheap sweet potatoes from Aldi, white yams from the Chinese grocery store, and Aldi canned beets (canned in water, not pickled in vinegar) with cheap bulk fresh dill ($1) from the Chinese grocery store. This entire salad cost maybe $4 for about 10 servings. It doesn’t get much more affordable or easier than that!

My doctor has me on the most restrictive diet possible since my diagnosis of duodenal ulcers. The pain is intense and severe, but nothing compares with the emotional torture of this restricted diet! Among the forbidden foods? Onions, garlic, vinegars, all alcohol including cooking wine, lemons, grapefruit, oranges, tomatoes, peppers, all spices including black pepper, processed meats, oils and grease, fried and fatty foods, all sauces and dressings including mayo ketchup and mustard, chili, carbonated drinks, chocolate, teas, coffee, sugar, mint, and full-fat dairy like cream, milk, sour cream, and cream cheese, AND MORE.

This salad is fully compliant with the ulcer diet, so it’s also great for people who struggle with GERD or other gastro symptoms. (Obviously, ask your doctor.) It also keeps really well. The yogurt will turn pink as it sits, but that’s not a bad thing unless the men in your life refuse to eat pink foods, in which case you may want to invite better men into your life.

Highly recommended. Delicious enough that I’d even recommend it to people without ulcers!

beet-walnut dip

this recipe from prairierth farm is really similar to binnur’s turkish walnut and hazelnut yogurt dip posted in the early days of this blog. i never tried making it, and forgot about it.

then yesterday, someone from the farm sampled this out, with carrot and kohlrabi to dip. it was well worth the trip. the dip is absolutely phenomenal. a clutch of people lingered by the sample table, staring wistfully at this pink stuff like they were smitten. part of the reason it was so amazing was that all the ingredients were farm-fresh. part of the reason it was so amazing is that this is made of some of my favorite foods!

1 lb beets (4 smallish,) scrubbed
1 c walnuts
1 clove smashed and peeled garlic
3 t sherry vinegar or lemon juice
a few fresh herb leaves, such as marjoram or thyme (optional)
1.5 t kosher salt, or half as much table salt
1/3 c olive oil
1/3 c greek yogurt

boil beets, covered, turn down heat, and simmer til tender, 20-45 min. peel beets.

toast walnuts on the stovetop or at 350 for 5 min

grab your food processor. add peeled beets, garlic, walnuts, vinegar/lemon juice, herbs, and salt.

with motor running, slowly drizzle in olive oil and yogurt.taste for salt and tang.

dip anything in it – carrots, kohlrabi, crackers, apples, whatever you like.

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thanks to PrairiErth Farm in central illinois for the recipe!

red beets with apples (buraki z jabłkami)

Doesn’t get simpler than this minimalist sweet and healthy salad. I modified this recipe from The Art of Polish Cooking by Alina Zeranska. If you like beet salads, but aren’t crazy about apples, try this herbed version – beet salad with dilled yogurt.

1 lb beets (boiled & chopped, or canned)
1 large apple, peeled, shredded
1/2 c sour cream or unsweetened plain yogurt
1 T lemon juice
salt to taste

combine & serve (do not heat!)

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adapted from The Art of Polish Cooking by Alina Zeranska

cold ukranian borscht (beet soup)

This is a great summer soup!

When many people think of borscht, borsch, borshch, barzcz, or borchch, they think of a heavy winter stew made with lots of beef bones and potatoes. If you’ve never tried a summery cold borscht, I highly recommend it. Ukranian-style borscht is cool, creamy, and refreshing. Unlike heavy hot deep red borscht with chunks of beef, this pink Ukranian version doesn’t suffer at all when made vegetarian, with veggie stock.

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make your own chicken or veg stock
roast a head of garlic
shred part of a cabbage, one bunch of peeled raw beets, two small raw potatoes, and a large carrot. put some lemon juice on the shredded raw beets.

heat stock and add shredded veggies and roasted garlic, a pinch of paprika, a bay leaf, and a half-teaspoon or so of allspice. add veggie scraps like parsley stalks and carrot tops and remove before serving or storing.

while this boils, make the zapravka in a separate pan. heat some lard or oil and saute one onion. when translucent, add one chopped carrot. when they begin to soften, add salt, pepper, 2 T tomato paste,

cook everything together until it tastes amazing.

when done, add tons of plain yogurt or sour cream, tons of fresh raw dill, minced pickles or pickled peppers, sliced hard-boiled eggs, and juice from half a fresh lemon.

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adapted by friedsig from ukranianguide

beet salad with dilled yogurt

400g beets / beetroot, fresh, cooked to your liking and cut into matchsticks (roasting and boiling are both great) or grated raw and uncooked
2-3 Tablespoon fresh chopped dill, to taste
3 Tablespoons Greek yoghurt
1 tspn za’atar (opt.)
salt and pepper, to taste

one OR the other of:
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbspn pomegranate molasses

Mix together the yoghurt, molasses, garlic, za’atar and seasoning – check that the taste is okay for you and add more molasses or seasoning as needed. Stir in the beetroot and half the dill. Fold together gently or mix well – depending on how pink you want your yoghurt to turn, or whether you want a more marbled pink/white look! Scatter over the extra dill and serve.

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adapted from lime and barley

 

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I highly recommend this salad, though I changed the recipe to recommend garlic OR pomegranate molasses and not both. It’s amazing how a good fresh beet has so much flavor on its own and barely needs any seasoning to taste so complex and interesting! This is my new favorite three-ingredient meal.

rote riebesalat (german sweet and sour beet salad)

oh, try this!

Rote Riebesalat

Ingredients:

2 ea red beets; bunches

Marinade:

2 tb water

1/4 c vinegar

1/2 tb caraway seeds

pinch of sugar (do beets need sugar? not really! this is optional!)

2 tb onion; minced

1 ts horseradish

1/4 ts cloves; ground

1/2 ts salt

1/4 ts pepper

4 tb salad oil, like walnut or olive

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original instructions:

Wash beets, trim off greens, place in medium saucepan, and cook, without peeling, in salted water to cover, until beets are tender. Peel and slice. Prepare marinade dressing by combining remaining ingredients. Pour over beets and let stand for several hours before serving. Stir beets occasionally.

my instructions:
combine all marinade ingredients in a jar. shake the jar. add a can of beets. (for one can, cut ingredients in half.) add beets to jar, leave on counter, shake several times an hour for a few hours.

adapted by friedsig from Harald Pleiner.

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edit 2018:

seriously delicious. one of my new favorite schwabisch / swabian recipes!

beets

maria used facebook to ask, “I have tons of beets and don’t know what to do with them. Got any good recipes?”

YES!

i adore beets… but
sometimes, you just get a little tired of the same old olive oil roasted beets and sweet potatoes.

– my absolute favorite is, of course, lacto-fermented pickled beets. you can boil the beets until they’re done but still firm, like salad beets. pickle whole or in chunks. make one batch spicy, with horseradish, and salt. just leave them in saltwater inside a closed jar…. that’s it! that one will keep for months and months or even years. make sure to burp it every day while it’s still fermenting! then you can stick ’em in the fridge when they’re sour enough for your tastes. it’ll become a favorite condiment. for snacking, i like adding whole cinnamon bark chunks, hunks of fresh ginger, and allspice berries cracked in two to the saltwater.

– mashed yams and beets with a pinch of brown sugar or honey, some combination of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and mace, and a little orange juice (to taste)
you can mash the yams and the beets separately and then have fun playing with them on your plate! timbre might enjoy that :D

– roasted beets with toasted nuts (walnuts? pistachios? probably anything would be good,) balsamic vinaigrette, and greens

– beet and soft cheese spread – beet and goat cheese is a tried and true, but beet and blue cheese is its own beast.

– roasted beet, grapefruit, and avocado salad

– a little mashed roasted beets in anything for color and a little sweetness, from hummus or baba ghanouj to desserts (admittedly, i have never tried the famous chocolate beet recipes, but i don’t see why a cup of beets in a brownie recipe wouldn’t be good.)

– beet salad with dilled yogurt (so simple, but seriously great!)

– beet salad with shredded (or matchstick-cut) raw beets and carrots, and any combination of carrots, nuts, and a little citrus juice.
for a savory version, toss in lemon juice, mustard, raw minced garlic, herbs (parsley, or whatever you have around) and sour apple. if you like it sweeter, toss in orange juice, balsamic, and add some raw sweet apple.

HEARD SOME TALK ABOUT:

– beet and potato pancakes? i love this idea.

– beetroot thayir pachadi – coconut, yogurt, and beets? i think i’m in love. i want to try this this week, scooped up with some freshly baked bread!

anyone else? beet recipes? maria, what are your favorite ways to do up a beet?