CSA Wednesdays: Carrots & Beets + Candy-Striped Beet and Carrot Slaw
How often do you see carrots with the greens still attached? They’re so pretty. I wonder if cutting their greens makes them feel like their “hair” is getting chopped off?
If carrots had feelings, that is.
Speaking of feelings… I have mixed feelings toward beets. They’re probably the most gorgeous color found in nature, but I think they taste like dirt.
Sometimes they surprise you, though. Have you ever seen candy-striped (chioggia) beets? Pretty cool, right? One perk to these babies is they don’t turn your hands (or whatever else they touch) purple for the next two days, and taste less like dirt then the other ones.
Carrots will surprise you, too. Like the purple ones we get sometimes in our CSA box. Tricky, tricky vegetables.
Because I have issues with beets, I tried roasting them, which usually works with vegetables I don’t like (except for radishes). No luck. I don’t mind them in borscht, though. Or hummus. Otherwise, I cook them down, mash them, freeze some in ice cube trays and turn things pink. Like waffles. My girls really like it, and a couple of tablespoons changes the color drastically, but doesn’t affect the flavor or texture.
 |
| Pictured: Russian Palace’s Borscht, Pretty Pink Waffles, Beet & Chickpea Hummus |
So yes, there are some repeats from former CSA Wednesdays posts (like borscht… which could probably work itself into half of these posts. It’s like CSA soup. For reals.)
Beets
Russian Palace’s Borcht
Beet & Chickpea Hummus
Pretty Pink Waffles
 |
| Pictured: Warm Spinach and White Bean Dip, Thai Peanut Turkey Burgers, Caramelized Cumin-Roasted Carrots, and Spiced Carrot Waffles |
There are a lot of recipes on my site that have carrots. Just type “carrots” into the search and you’ll see. I wanted to highlight some of my favorites and those that use up more than just one carrot. And yes, you might see some familiar recipes from past posts.
Carrots
Coconut Curry with Cauliflower, Carrots & Chickpeas
Spiced Carrot Waffles
Chicken Tortilla Stew
Homemade Chicken Stock
Hidden Veggie Chipotle Taco Meat
Caramelized Cumin-Roasted Carrots
Thai Chicken Wraps
Thai Peanut Turkey Burgers
And once again… here are my favorite dips. Carrots really lend themselves to be eaten raw. Covered in dip.
Ah, but this slaw. Look how gorgeous those beets and carrots are. I didn’t adjust the saturation for those photos above — they really are that bright!
Sometimes bright, colorful food is just the thing to get your kids to at least take a bite. My girls nibbled at this slaw at first, but then ate a good amount of it. I did, too. The dressing is really citrusy and tart — almost too tart — but the sweetness from the beets and carrots toned it down.
I was surprised how much I liked this! It’s the first time I’ve ever been happy eating raw beets.
Candy-Striped Beet and Carrot Slaw
Total Time: about 30 minutes
Ingredients:
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 tsp finely grated orange zest + 3 T fresh orange juice
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 T finely chopped fresh dill
5 2"-diameter candy-strip (Chioggia) beets, scrubbed, julienned
1 large carrot (or 2 medium), julienned
salt and pepper, to tasteDirections:
Whisk yogurt, orange zest and juice, lemon juice, and dill in a medium bowl. Add beets and carrots and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
Nat's Notes:
1. I used a mandoline slicer to slice the beets and carrots. I forgot to peel them, and I don't think it made a big difference.from Bon Appetit July 2011
perrysplate
perrysplate
perrysplate
Heidi — July 20, 2011 @ 4:59 pm
Wow, those beets are so pretty! I actually love beets so this looks awesome to me. Love the citrusy yogurt dressing, it sounds so yummy :)
[Reply]
Joanne — July 20, 2011 @ 5:39 pm
I'm so glad I'm not the only one with an aversion to beets! Great idea to mix it into baked goods and such though!
[Reply]
Karly — July 20, 2011 @ 10:45 pm
I've never tried beets. And now I probably never will. Dirt. Ha! No, thank you.
As for carrots, I make a special trip to the fancy grocery store when I want to buy carrots. I *need* the greens attached. I'm also sure to ride my bike to that store so that I can grab a loaf of french bread to stick in the bike basket along with the carrots. (That last part may or may not be a lie.)
[Reply]
Ann — July 20, 2011 @ 10:55 pm
Nat – I have to say….YOU GO GIRL! If I didn't like something, I don't think I would have kept at it like you did…but then the world would be missing that AMAZING slaw! You are SO cool!
[Reply]
Natalie — July 20, 2011 @ 10:56 pm
Well, Heidi, unless you're beet-loving friends speak up, you might be outnumbered here :)
Karly – The only time I have ever bought beets at the store was for our annual pot of borscht. Besides that, they always come in our CSA box. So, I feel like I'm in survival mode when I try to figure out what to do with them.
P.S. I would love to see you riding a bike with produce and French bread in the basket :)
[Reply]
Natalie — July 20, 2011 @ 10:58 pm
Ann – Haha… thanks. :) I have to say, my dislike for wasting food (& money) seems to override my dislike for the food itself. Although I do toss a bunch of 4-week old radishes once in a while. I struggle with those :)
[Reply]
Kathryn — July 21, 2011 @ 2:17 am
Thanks to you, Natalie, my aversion to beets is slowly changing. I found a recipe for roasted beets that I KNOW you would love :) I thought it was pretty darn good, too.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/roasted-beets-with-feta/detail.aspx
[Reply]
marla {Family Fresh Cooking} — July 21, 2011 @ 12:24 pm
You are such an inspiration with that CSA box and all of these gorgeous recipes. I must get my hands on some fresh beets pronto!
[Reply]
the actor's diet — July 21, 2011 @ 3:19 pm
beautiful! i love the use of yogurt, too.
[Reply]
Rivki Locker (Ordinary Blogger) — July 22, 2011 @ 12:46 am
Too bad you don't like beets. They are a favorite of mine – both roasted and raw. Looks like you found a nice way to enjoy them, though. Beautiful photos.
[Reply]
Healthy Mamma — July 22, 2011 @ 2:49 am
Your blog is so much fun, I just love it to bits. I've also had to recently evaluate my feelings towards beets but I've found that I like them now, mostly pickled but it's a start. ;)
I know you'll believe me when I tell you that I've been thinking about posting a very similar recipe to this (mostly because I found a super cute dish to serve it in ;) *sighhh
p.s. I've been thinking about you lately. I just started going back to church and my 16 y.o. son is getting baptised in a few weeks!
xo
[Reply]
Healthy Mamma — July 22, 2011 @ 2:51 am
Oh, p.s. ;)
love carrot tops! We grow 'blood orange' carrots in our backyard container garden (one of the few things we can get to grow here in Phx.) and my kids loooove pulling them out of the dirt and hanging onto the 'hair' and munching on them. I found them at an heirloom seed co. onling. fun!
[Reply]
Maria — July 22, 2011 @ 7:08 pm
I love beets! Thanks for the great ideas!
[Reply]
Cara — July 27, 2011 @ 4:27 pm
These are beautiful pictures. No wonder, since you have great subjects! Thank you for this post, I keep seeing the most gorgeous beets at my farmers market but don't know what to do with them.
[Reply]