Oopsie Veggie Burgers: Low Carbing on Work Days

Low Carb Veggie Cheeseburger

It's hard to pack a healthy, robust vegetarian lunch. It needs to hold up to packing, fill you up and be low carb. I work long hours (12-13 hour shifts). It's too easy to run by the vending machine for a bag of chips halfway through my shirt, and sometimes even grab some trail mix or crackers later. I work at a hospital, so there's always free bagels, nutri-grain bars, candy, trail mix, crackers and everything else. If I'm hungry, I go for those quick snacks, so I try to pack a filling lunch.

One of my go to meals has always been either a cheese sandwich or a veggie burger. Now that I'm cutting back on carbs and eliminating grains, those are not an option. Or are they?

I tried Oopsie rolls for the second time and they turned out great. The first time I followed Cleochatra's recipe exactly and I thought they were a bit too creamy and soft for me. This time, I doubled the eggs and used less cream cheese.

My recipe:

6 large eggs
dash of apple cider vinegar (or cream of tartar. I don't keep that on hand)
4 ounces of cream cheese (the original recipe would use 6 ounces).

This makes about 12 "rolls" of induction friendly, gluten free, carb friendly "bread." These things are 74 calories, 4.3 grams of protein. 6.2 grams of fat and only 0.3 grams of carb each. It does take two to build a sandwich, but even then it's an amazingly healthy snack.

Oopsie rolls don't taste exactly like bread, but they are durable enough to make a sandwich, and the cream cheese makes it moist and delicious. Check Cleochatra's site to find the exact proccess. They are super easy. The hardest part is beating your eggs until they are stiff. They have to be super stiff, like you're making meringue. It took me less than 10 minutes to make them.

Oopsie rolls are perfect for lunch

I've found these hold up pretty well to packing. I store these on the counter. I tried the first batch in the fridge and they got a little moist (setting them in a warm oven for a bit helped).   You can freeze them and then heat them up in a warm oven once they're thawed.  If you're not going to eat a whole batch within a day or two, freeze them or refrigerate them.  You risk making yourself really sick otherwise.

The first day I made them, I used them as a meal side dish. When I had to work the next day, I tossed 2 into a plastic bag for lunch, and packed a cooked veggie patty and some cheese. I didn't refrigerate or microwave the oopsie buns, but I did stick the patty and cheese in the fridge. When lunch time rolled around, I heated the patty and assembled my burger.

These things are delicious with veggie burger and it held up well. I could have probably eaten two or three.  They do get a little smushy as you eat them, but so does bread.  In some ways, the little pockets of cream cheese really compliment the burger and make it even better than dry bread. Veggie burgers tend to be dry anyway.  

They hold up surprisingly well

These rolls are very versatile.  You can slather these with some garlic butter and cheese and pop them under the broiler for garlic bread.  You can flatten them out and make pizza.  They take well to molding. If you wanted them to look more bun like, you could use a small cake pan.  You could probably even fashion some sort of hoagie roll out of them.

Here's the breakdown for the whole veggie burger. Cutting out the cheese or using a lower carb cheese (I used American) would really cut the carbs.

Burger:
6.0 grams of fat
15 grams of protein
5.0 grams of carbohydrates

Cheese:
8.8 fat
0.5 grams of protein
6.3 grams of carbohydrates

Oopsie Rolls (2):
12.4 grams of fat
8.6 grams of protein
0.6 grams of carbohydrates

Total:
27.2 grams of fat
24.1 grams of protein
6.1 grams of carbohydrates

Is it Possible to Eat Out Healthily?

Panera Bread

Today, my mom wanted to go out to eat.  She wanted to go have Mexican food.  I don't like to be jailed by my diet, so I decided to go and try to eat as low carb as possible.  She agreed that we'd just have one "good" thing.  Her favorite food is cheese enchiladas.  We looked at the nutritional info for the place we wanted to go.  They aren't too bad.  They're about 20 carbs each.  Rice is about 50 carbs and beans are 30 carbs.  We both decided to forgo the rice and beans and have a salad (the house salad was 20 carbs).  She had two enchiladas and I had 2 soft veggie tacos (they were 80 carbs, ridiculous.  The carb count was mostly from the tortillas).  We also decided to have a few chips, but not eat the whole bowl like we normally do when we go out.  Overall I think we did well. 

It's almost impossible to be vegetarian and eat out healthy in a normal restaurant.  Most of the vegetarian choices are pasta, bread or rice dishes.  Most of those have almost no protein in them.  Most of the servings are so big, they are probably 2 days worth of carbs.

I used to eat at Panera Bread a lot, because a sandwich seemed healthy.  It's not really much better than my Mexican meal.  What I normally eat at a Mexican restaurant would be the two tacos, rice and beans: 160 carbs.  At Panera, I used to get soup (instead of chips) and a sandwich. The mozzarella and tomato ciabatta is one of my faves: 96 carbs.  A small bowl of the low fat garden vegetable soup is 10 carbs.  Together, that's 106 carbs.  There's a big difference between 106 and 160, but both are way too high (my mom's Mexican dinner would be only 120 with beans and rice).  Panera's chips are 23 grams of carbs, by the way. Soup is a smart sub.  I should have just eaten the soup.

For those of you thinking the panini press adds carbs, another favorite of mine is a plain sandwich: Mediterranean veggie on tomato basil bread.  It's also 96 carbs.  Seems that's the only number they know for vegetarians.

The Olive Garden, famous for being high calorie and artery clogging, isn't much worse for your diet than Panera Bread.  If you got the lunch portion of fettuccine Alfredo (and skipped the bread, salad, etc. Yeah right), it would only be 125 carbs.  Remember the sandwich? It's 96 carbs.  That's not really that much of a difference.  My two tacos were 80 carbs, and not nearly as filling as a whole serving of fettuccine.

The worst item on the Mexican food menu was a chicken burrito: 173 grams of carbs (without the beans and rice).  I imagine that's a massive burrito.  The item they claimed to be the healthiest on their menu was also chicken, it was "only" 60 grams of carbs for the entire meal.  It's not served with beans and rice, just steamed vegetables.   Panera's healthiest sandwiches are 64 grams of carbs each: Turkey on three cheese bread and Asiago Roast Beef on Asiago cheese bread.

Most of the time, vegetarians are stuck with a salad.  The Mexican place had a range from 23 grams of carbs for a fajita salad to 80 grams of carbs for a taco salad (and the house salad was the only vegetarian salad at 20 grams).  The fajita salad is not a bad choice for meat eaters.  Panera ranged from 11 grams of carbs for a chicken cobb salad to 50 grams of carbs for a BBQ chopped chicken salad.  Not bad.  A couple of vegetarian salads are in the 12-14 range.

My point isn't that we should never eat out, though maybe it should be.  If you're vegetarian trying to keep your carb count down, you're probably going to be stuck munching on a salad  Our carnivore friends have just as much trouble if sticking to the menu.  At a Mexican place, ordering fajitas or tacos without the tortilla and skipping the chips would cut you carbs down.  You could order a sandwich without the bread or just stick with a soup at the deli.

What I'm really trying to say is that I think we've all gotten a perverse sense of what is "healthy."  I used to eat Panera everyday in school, because I figured it was the healthiest thing in the food court, if I avoided the pastry.  My mom even mentioned maybe going to a deli because it's "healthier" today.    It's really not.  Fries (33 grams per serving and McDs) and mozzarella sticks (40 grams per serving at Sonic) would have been just as healthy as a deli meal. 

I'm being a little facetious.  If you've read any of my earlier posts, you know I believe there is more to food than just carbs and just chasing the "low carb" meal as the answer is a bit misleading.  It's hard for me to seriously claim that over-processed, over salted fries are better than a tomato sandwich.  On the other hand, I can't claim the sandwich is "healthy" either.  It has better ingredients.  It actually has a real live vegetable in it and their bread is often more toothsome than McDonald's buns, but that's about the end of it's praise.

Why haven't we vilified the deli sandwich like we have the burger and fries?  I've avoided fettuccine Alfredo most of my life because of the "heart attack on a plate" moniker, yet I'd happily eat fettuccine noodles and marinara (and deli sandwiches for lunch).  I'm sure I'm not the only one.

What this country needs is not more of the "eat less, move more" rhetoric, but a sea change in deciding what is healthy and what isn't.  That's the only way to combat the obesity epidemic.   It really says something that I'm often still surprised when I read a label, even after I've studied nutrition in  courses aimed at MDs, PharmDs and nutritionists, after I read all the nutritional studies and even the pop science I can about why and how we eat.  I'm still surprised at how often sugar and high-fructose corn syrup are slipped into things.

I bought some frozen sweet potatoes fries the other day. Sweet potatoes are great for you.  They're naturally sweet, but full of vitamins, minerals and fiber.  You know what?  They put sugar and high fructose corn syrup in the sweet potatoes. Why?!  It just always astonishes me.

My mantra (which I think is partially stolen from Michael Pollen): Whole food.  Nothing from a box.  Eat at home more often than you eat out.

Mocking Macaroni: It's not a Laughing Matter

The real thing, it's not healthy.

My favorite meal of all time is probably macaroni and cheese.  I like mine best crispy on top, creamy in the middle and made from scratch.  I love it so much that even the Kraft blue box will do. I've been known to consume an entire box in one sitting.  I used to get those Easy Mac bowls and I would eat 2-3 of them before I felt like it was enough macaroni and cheese.

The USDA would probably consider macaroni and cheese a healthy food.  The box proclaims it to be a good source of calcium.  They even make whole grain mac and cheese.  If it's whole grain, it must be healthy, right?

Let's look at the facts:


Nutrition Facts for Kraft

---

Amount Per Serving (makes 4) of Kraft Whole Grain Mac and Cheese (prepared as directed)

Calories:  390

Total fat: 17 g

Protein: 8 g

Total carbohydrate:  49 g

• Dietary Fiber: 5 g
• Sugar: 6 g

Amount Per Serving (makes 4) of Kraft Deluxe Blue Box Mac and Cheese (prepared as directed)

Calories:  320

Total fat: 10 g

Protein: 12 g

Total carbohydrate:  45 g

• Dietary Fiber: 1 g
• Sugar: 3 g

Both of these "healthy" meals are almost your entire carbohydrate intake for the day (or over it if you're doing Atkins style induction).  One cup of macaroni as my entire daily ration doesn't sound great.  When I eat a whole box, I'm getting 180 grams of carbohydrate.  I can hear my pancreas cursing me for torturing it.

To give my poor pancreas a break, I decided to try mockaroni and cheese.  I admit, it doesn't look as tasty as the real stuff, but it's partially because I was too hungry to photograph it well.  It is a good way to cut those carbs down and still get a similar flavor and mouth feel as real macaroni and cheese.

It doesn't look like macaroni and cheese, but it tastes reminiscent of it.

Mockaroni and Cheese
(Serves Four)

• 1 head of cauliflower, steamed and chopped
• 4 ounces cottage cheese
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 4 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 ounce of mozzarella cheese, shredded
• Salt and pepper to taste

Optional:

• Some people like to add things like onion, cayenne, oregano, tomatoes and whatever else to their mac and cheese.  You can add those, but I prefer mine plain.
• You can really use whatever cheeses you want
• You can use frozen, chopped cauliflower instead of fresh if you want to
• I've seen some recipes that use cream cheese instead of cottage cheese.

1. Combine all of these ingredients, except a handful of cheddar, into an oven safe bowl. Make sure they are mixed well.  
2. Sprinkle the handful of cheddar on top.  
3. Place the bowl into an oven that's been preheated to 350 degrees and cook it for about 30 minutes, until it's your level of brown.  The top will get crispy just like traditional mac and cheese.

This is what it looks like before baking.  It tastes better than it looks.

It really makes a convincing substitute.  None of these substitutes have the gluteny goodness of real pasta, but I don't really miss it in this dish.  The mouth feel of the cauliflower is very similar to the mouth feel of pasta.  With mac and cheese, the pasta is just a sauce delivery system anyway.

I served mine here with a feta and tomato salad and some roasted kale.

Nutrition Facts for Mockaroni

---

Amount Per Serving (makes 4)

Calories:  166

Total fat: 10 g

Protein: 12 g

Total carbohydrate:  9 g

• Dietary Fiber: 3.6 g
• Sugar: 0.2 g

You see a lot of the values we like (fat and protein) stayed the same.  That's because they came  from the cheese.  We didn't cut that.  However, the values we hate (carbs and calories) came way down.  Calories are more than halved and carbohydrates decreased by 80%.  Eight-percent makes a big difference to your pancreas. It's still yummy too.

Transformers, Pasta in Disguise: Spaghetti Squash

Low Carb Spaghetti? For real? Heck, yeah!

I don't like most fake pastas.  I've tried those shirataki noodles that Hungry Girl raves about and they made me sick.  I just can't take the weird mouth feel of them.  I'm not even a big fan of wheat pasta.  I like Dreamfields, but my blood sugar reacts to that almost like it does normal pasta so why pay the extra for it?  I often make my own pasta, but it's really not much healthier than the store bought stuff.  It just tastes better.

I hadn't tried spaghetti squash until my mom decided to go low carb.  I've always seen them in the grocery store and thought, "What kind of demon vegetable claims to transform into spaghetti?  That thing has to be the results of some kind of dark magic."  That and I thought it would taste like eating pasta sauce over yellow squash.  Yuck.

Since I'm challenging my perceptions of vegetables, I bought one and I can't believe I've lived all these years without them.  I've eaten it every week since then, because pasta is my weakness.  To me, spaghetti squash are just as easy to prepare as regular spaghetti, and almost as tasty.  The squash has a little bit of a crunch that pasta doesn't, but other than that, I find it quite nice.

I'm not going to give you a recipe for sauce in this post.  I've found this squash takes just about any type of sauce you can throw at it.  I've made it with regular marinara, chunky marinara, pesto, tossed it with vegetables and olive oil, tossed it with olive oil and herbs ... the only thing I've found it didn't taste great with is Alfredo sauce and other cream sauces (some people like it with Alfredo too).  That is awesome for low carb dieters, because you have almost all the variety of meals that pasta can give you, but it's low carb and low calorie.  Woo!

Squastimus Prime: Ready to transform.

When buying a spaghetti squash, choose one that is heavy for its size.  The smaller ones generally taste better, but even a small spaghetti squash should be large, compared to most squashes (except pumpkin).  They are generally about 8 inches by 5 inches.  They should be uniform in color without too many blemishes and no soft spots.  You want to feel it to make sure the flesh is firm all around.  The one picture is a little ugly, but it's still a good squash.  The flesh is firm, and a few blemishes are ok.

This thing is so amazing.  It lasts forever.  If you store it in a root cellar, it can last up to 6 months before it goes bad.  Even at room temperature, you have a few weeks before it starts going bad.  It also freezes well.  I can't eat a whole spaghetti squash.  It makes about 4-5 servings.  It tastes fine reheated too, but I don't like to eat the same thing every day.  I cook it and shred it (see below) and then put the spaghetti in a freezer bag.  It reheats and tastes about the same.  I've never frozen it with sauce, but I guess that would be ok too.  I use the sauce to heat the frozen squash up for 4-5 minutes.

I always give you the nutritional information, but the fact is that the spaghetti squash isn't really that nutritious.  It's mostly water.  Other winter squashes are better for you.  It's what it's lacking that makes it a great substitute for regular spaghetti.    According to the USDA, 1 cup of spaghetti squash has 42 calories, 0.4 gram of fat, 10 g of carbs (4 grams of sugar) and 2.2 g of fiber.  Compare that to regular spaghetti.  One cup of spaghetti gives you 220 calories, 1.3 grams of fat, 43 grams of carbs (0.8 grams of sugar) and 2.5 grams of fiber.   I can have a whole spaghetti squash for one serving of spaghetti.


You also have to factor in your sauce.  It can be low carb, high carb, low calorie, high calorie, nutritious or not.  The choice is between you and your pancreas.

You can cook spaghetti squash in a variety of ways from crock pots to pressure cookers, but the easiest and quickest way is to stick the whole thing in the microwave.  I was once told by a professional chef that a true food lover would never have a microwave in their house.  How pretentious. Microwaves are perfect for certain tasks, and cooking spaghetti squash is one.

To microwave the squash, you just poke a few holes in it with a knife (so it won't explode) and pop it in a microwave whole for about 12 minutes.  Let it cool for another 5-10 minutes before you split it open.  Baking and boiling a whole squash takes about an hour.  Sticking one in the crock pot takes all day.  A pressure cooker takes about 12 minutes too.  Alternatively, you can speed up the cooking by cutting the squash into cubes before you cook it, but these guys are hard to cut when raw.  The cubes makes shredding it a lot less fun.

After it's cooked and cooled, the next step is to cut it in a half and remove the seeds and the pulp, the slimy stuff that holds the seeds in.  You're going to think you've been gypped.  It doesn't look much like spaghetti at all.   It looks like a pumpkin.  Like pumpkin, that slimy stuff is not tasty, so even if you have to remove a bit of the flesh, get it all.  The seeds can be saved and roasted.  They taste a little like pumpkin seeds. 

What the...That doesn't look like spaghetti.

The next step is the most fun part.  You get to make spaghetti.  Invite your friends over and show them how awesome you are.  Just take a fork and rake up and down the cleaned flesh and you'll get "noodles."  I generally prop mine up in a bowl and shred the spaghetti squash over it.

That's more like it.

 I find that spaghetti squash taste best cooked with the sauce.  It's ok if you just pour the sauce over it, but cooking them together makes it really shine.  Most recipes serve the sauce over the squash, so I may be in the minority. You should try it with a variety of sauces and techniques and see what you like best.  You can pretty much do anything with it you can do with normal spaghetti, including baking it in a casserole. I've even seen a recipe for a mock lasagna with it.  The spaghetti squash was layered with lasagna ingredients.  My favorite way to eat it is sauteed with some fresh vegetables, olive oil, garlic and herbs.  I get the vegetables going first and add the squash in the last few minutes.  Yum!

"Noodles" close up.

Nutrition Facts

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Amount Per Serving (1 cup of spaghetti squash, cooked with no sauce)

Calories: 42
Total fat: 0.4 g
Protein: 1 g
Total carbohydrate: 10 g

• Dietary Fiber: 2.2 g
• Sugar: 4 g

Kohlrabi : Bake me to Your Leader

I think most grocery store produce departments have what I call the "wtf section."  I just imagine that the poor produce manager hits a key and accidentally orders something like lycee fruit or nopales.  When then these things show up to the store, they exclaim, "WTF is this stuff?"  The people at the cash registers exclaim similar when you decide to buy the item.

This is the section of the store where I saw these guys, kohlrabi.  I knew nothing about it, except it reminded me of an alien spaceship.  Aliens spaceships and delicious food don't really go together, but I decided to try it anyway.


Turns out kohlrabi is a cultivar of cabbage, but is known as the German turnip (because it kind of looks like a turnip).  It was created from the wild cabbage plant, like broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collard greens and Brussels sprouts.  Coincidentally, it has a cabbage-like taste.  It comes in green or purple, but both are said to taste similar.  The purple variety is said to be sweeter.

It can be eaten raw, roasted, stir-fried, braised or any number of cooking preparations.  Some people slice the kohlrabi thin like carrot sticks and use them raw for dipping.  Some people eat them like an apple.  I've heard the best way to eat them raw is sliced with a little salt.  I tasted it that way.  It reminded me of a raw potato, but with a slight cabbage taste.  It also reminded me of a slightly less spicy radish.  Some say it tastes like broccoli stems, but I tasted more cabbage than broccoli.  


The greens are also edible.  They can be eaten raw or cooked like any other greens.  Raw, they taste a little bitter, reminiscent of raw kale.  They need to be cooked like turnip or collard greens (low and slow) to get rid of that taste.  I tried my greens at 5 minutes in and at 30 minutes in.  The 30 minute cook time was primo!


According to the University of Illinois, kohlrabi has the mildest and best flavor when small.  The greens are also not as bitter when they are young.  Larger ones tend to be woody.  I saw an episode of "Chopped" recently featuring kohlrabi (the day I cooked the stuff.  I'm surrounded by kohlrabi now).  The judges' complaint to all the contestants was that the kohlrabi was woody because it wasn't cooked long enough.  I think mine are a little larger, but they did not taste woody.  The University of Illinois says 2-3 inches across is ideal. 

The greens are edible, but taste better cooked than raw.

One cup of raw kohlrabi has about 84 mg of vitamin C and it also supplies some of the B vitamins.  It's also high in potassium and low in calories.  It's pretty high in protein for a vegetable too.  The downside for low-carb dieters is that a cup contains 11 grams of carbs.  That's pretty high, especially since 5 grams are from sugar.  It only has 2 grams of fiber.

Since I only had three (and there weren't more at the market when I went back), I decided to saute the body of the plant and prep them like I would turnip greens.  They tasted almost exactly like turnips and greens to me.  The kohlrabi was a little sweeter and not as strongly flavored as a turnip, but really reminiscent of it. 

I'm not crazy about turnips, but if you are these would be a great addition to your diet.

They are completely white inside

Here's a tip about peeling them.  They are white under all that green.  You want to peel past the green.  I took a photo of these before I realized it was white underneath.  I should have peeled these a little bit more.  The green skin is tough.  Use a good peeler or, preferably, a knife.  


Sauteed Kohlrabi and Greens

• 3 kohlrabi (with greens)
• 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (or to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon of mustard seed (or to taste)
• 1/2 tablespoon of garlic
• 1/2-1 cup of water
• Olive oil

1. Remove the greens from the kohlrabi and set aside.  Peel the kohlrabi and remove all stems.  Dice into cubes.
2. Chop the kohlrabi greens into bite sized pieces, removing any tough stems.  Wash them well (I always do at least 2 soaks with greens, most of the time three), and drain them well.
3. Add a few tablespoons of olive oil to your pan, put on medium heat and get it hot.  Saute the garlic, red pepper and mustard seen in olive oil for a few seconds before adding the kohlrabi.
4. Get some nice brown on your kohlrabi (maybe 3-5 minutes).
5. Add 1/2 cup of water and greens.  Cover and cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring and checking occasionally to make sure you have enough liquid.  These should have the consistency of turnips and turnip greens.

Nutrition Facts

---

Amount Per Serving (1 cup of kohlrabi)

Calories: 48
Total fat: 0 g
Protein: 5g g
Total carbohydrate: 11 g

• Dietary Fiber: 2 g
• Sugar: 5 g

Peanut Butter & Pumpkin Dog Snacks: Tootie's Birthday

Tootie is not low carb, vegetarian or gluten free. She goes for the gusto.

Even though this blog is about human food, I'm going to take a little space here to show you something for your furry friends. They deserve whole, healthy living too.  My dog's birthday was a few weeks ago and I like to make her "cookies" occasionally. I don't really like to buy those store bought biscuits.  Who knows what's in those or where they've been stored.  I do sometimes go to a local canine bakery and buy her some.  I think she likes it better when I make them. 

Just a little icing is enough.

You have to be really careful when baking or cooking for your dog.  Lots of things can kill or hurt them that are just fine for us.  Some artificial sweeteners, avocado, chocolate, grapes or raisins, milk, mushrooms, onions, too much salt or sugar can be bad for your pet.  When in doubt, leave it out.

Pumpkin is good for constipation and diarrhea in dogs.  It's good for their urinary tracts too.  It can prevent coprophagi (or eating of feces) if you have a problem with that.  Peanut butter is just yummy for all species. I modified a recipe I found here for these.


Peanut Butter & Pumpkin Dog Cookies
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1 can canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Water


Peanut Butter Frosting  (optional)
1.2 of an 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened (4 oz total)
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoons of canola oil
Food coloring

The consistency of the dough.

1. Mix all the ingredients, except water, together.  It's really easy with a stand mixer, it takes some muscle with your hands.  Add water to get a pie crust like consistency (not wet like human cookie dough, see the photo). I normally have to add a tablespoon.
2. Roll the dough to 1/2 inch thick, like most cut cookies.  You may have to work it a little to get it to the right consistency, since you're using whole wheat flour.
3. Cut into shapes or squares.  I always use animal shaped cookie cutters or a bone shaped cookie cutter I have.
4. Bake for about 40 minutes, until they are hard and starting to brown.  Allow to cool.
5. Mix together icing ingredients and ice the cookies.

If the cookies are iced, they should be eaten right away or refrigerated.  They should last a week or so in a ziptop bag if they're uniced.  I normally don't ice cookies I make for her, but it was a special occasion.  She does love the peanut butter icing.

Tootie approves this recipe.

If You Can't Beet Them, Enjoy Them

Beets are another one of those foods that I think people only hate because they haven't really had them prepared properly.  I remember those pickled, salad bar type beets of my youth.  They tasted like dirt to me and made a big mess.  We ate them a lot in my house, and I'm not sure why.  I remember scarfing them down first, so I could get it over with.  Whenever I saw beets in the store or on a menu, all I could think of is that super earthy, nasty flavor.

They actually shouldn't taste like dirt at all.  They have a mild, sweet flavor, and the consistency of a cooked carrot.  However, cooking them is very messy and beets will stain everything they come in contact with.  I generally operate on beets on only glass cutting boards and right over the sink.

Beet greens are delicious, and I hate most greens.  They're something that I was never served as a kid, but I think I saw Paula Deen make a batch on television once.  I thought to myself, you can eat beet greens?  I didn't think I'd like them, but I tried them anyway.  They have a milder flavor than most greens and a little bit of sweetness.  They are the only greens that I actually like quite a bit.  Now, when I look for beets I try to find ones that have lots of leafy greens.

Besides healthy greens, beet should be firm, colorful and free of blemishes.  I prefer smaller beets.  I think they have a sweeter, more punchy flavor.  The larger ones, like many vegetables, don't have as strong a flavor.

Beets are actually pretty good for you.  We could all stand to eat more of them.  Ancient Romans used them as medicine, mostly for digestive problems and as an aphrodisiac.  Today, we know they're packed with antioxidants, particularly betanin, which gives them their red color.  Interestingly, it's a different red pigment than you find in most red fruits and vegetables.  Most have anthocyanins.  Overcooking can destroy the betanin.  I'm pretty sure it was destroyed in those sludgy beets from my youth.  A correctly cooked beet still has some texture to it. Beets are also high in folates, vitamin C and potassium.

Beet greens are high in oxalate, which can lead to kidney stones.  If you're prone to kidney stones, the health benefits of beets might not be as seductive.

Beets are relatively low in calories with just 27 calories per half cup.  They are also relatively low in carbs and high in fiber, with about 7 carbs per 1/2 cup and 2 grams of fiber.

Beet greens are delicious, and they add a great punch of color to a plate.

Roasted Beets

Beets

Olive oil

Salt

1. Wash beets well and trim the tops, leaving about 3 inches of stalk.
2. Drizzle the beets with olive oil and a few pinches of salt
3. Wrap in aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes to an hour, or until tender.  Time depends on the size of the beets.  Start checking them around 30 minutes in.
4. Let the beets cool.  When cool enough to handle, slip the peels off.  I normally use a paper towel or vegetable scrubber, but the peelings easily come off if you just rub them with your fingers or you can use a peeler or paring knife.
5. You can serve the beets whole or you can slice and serve in a salad.

Beets are delicious by themselves or in a salad

Beet Greens and Onions 

Modified from simple recipes

1 pound beet greens
1 teaspoon olive oil

1/4 cup chopped onion or to taste
1 large garlic clove, minced

3/4 cup of water

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/6 cup of cider vinegar

1. Chop the greens into the bite size pieces.
2. Saute the onions in olive oil for about five minutes.  Add the garlic and saute for another minute.  Add water, sugar and red pepper.
3. Toss in beet greens.  Mix well.  Cook, covered, for 15 minutes or until tender. Stir in vinegar.

The vinegar is just a splash, really.  Don't make the mistake of adding too much.  I normally just add a few slices of onion.

Beet greens.

Nutrition Facts

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Amount Per Serving (0.5 cup each of beets and greens)

Calories: 74
Total fat: 3.6 g
Protein: 2.6 g
Total carbohydrate: 9.6 g

• Dietary Fiber: 3.2 g
• Sugar: 4.3 g

Parsnips Attacked: The Scared Carrot

Looks like a carrot with its blood removed.

Before my mom started her low carb diet, I had no idea how many potato substitutes there were.  It seems like everything in the grocery store wants to masquerade as a potato for a day.  There's celery root, cauliflower and jicama to name a few.  Low carb dieters must crave french fries and bacon more than anything.

Today's masquerader is parsnip.  Someone told me that parsnip was the best potato substitute.  I consider myself pretty educated in food, but I thought parsnip was something green.  I had no idea it was a root vegetable related to the carrot. When I went to find one for myself, I was reminded of a book I read when I was a kid: Bunnicula.  It's about a vampire rabbit that, instead of blood, sucks the juice of vegetables leaving a path of white carrots in his wake. This guy looks like he's seen a vampire bunny.

Parnsips are slightly sweeter than carrots, and also slightly more nutritious.   A half cup of parsnip has 50 calories, 11 grams of carbs and 3.2 grams of fiber.  It's a good source of fiber and potassium.

Choosing a parsnip is very similar to choosing a carrot.  The one difference is that you want a parsnips to be free from color.  The whiter the flesh, the sweeter the parsnip.  Much like carrots, you want parsnips to be firm, heavy for their size and free from blemishes.  The smaller ones are sweeter. 

I decided to really test the parsnip's ability to imitate the potato and make parsnip fries.

Sliced parsnips

 Parsnip Fries
2-3 parsnips
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Peel the parsnip like you would a carrot.  Julienne it to french fry size.  I used a mandolin. 
2. Toss the parsnip with minced garlic and olive oil.
3. Spread out on a baking sheet and cook for about 20 minutes at 425 degrees.  You should flip the fries a few times during cooking.
4. Toss with Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper before serving.

They almost look like real fries.

These I would definitely eat again.   They taste like a sweet french fry, but not too sweet.  I find sweet potato fries a little too sweet.  These are just perfect. With something like a cajun spice blend, they'd be to die for.  I tried adding rosemary my second attempt at these and it was great.  I think I'll be making these instead of sweet potato fries from now on.

Nutrition Facts

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Amount Per Serving (makes 4)

Calories: 175
Total fat: 10.7 g
Protein: 6.3 g
Total carbohydrate: 14.3 g

• Dietary Fiber: 2.9 g
• Sugar: 3.8 g