Beets are the superfood you've been missing out on!
Studies show that the nutrients in beets (especially the antioxidants and phytonutrients) can help prevent cancer and heart disease (1,2,3,4).
One half cup of beets provides 50% of a toddler's folate needs for the day (1). Folate is important for healthy red blood cells and toddler growth and development.
Beets are also a good source of magensium, B-6 and iron, which help with muscle and blood formation.
Many people dislike beets. I often hear people say "this tastes like dirt," which makes me laugh. They do have a very earthy flavor, especially when freshly harvested!
I really love the earthly beet flavor and because I've been serving my kids beets since they were babies, they also love beets.
Start feeding your baby and toddler beets while they are young and they will love them too! Here's a photo of my daughter with fresh picked beets in our backyard. She's a teenager now but still likes beets.
Here's 3 easy ways I feed beets to my family:
#1 Canned Beets
Canned beets are just so much easier than cooking raw beets. They are relatively inexpensive and make a fun addition to any lunch. Just open up a can and serve them up with your mac and cheese.
You can buy pickled beets or regular beets. If your family loves pickles, I'd start with pickled beets, the added sweetness might win your family over.
If you are feeling creative you can easily cut them into shapes with cookie cutters. That's too much effort for me, I just open up a can and plop them in a bowl. People gobble them up as a side dish or on top of salads.
Can you find the beets on this beautiful veggie plate? They look like canned beets to me.
Another fun way to eat canned beets is to blend them into a smoothie. My kids don't even know they are there in this recipe from the Oregon State Extension: https://kidspirit.oregonstate.edu/recipes/berry-beet-smoothie.
#2 Shredded Raw Beets
I love to serve shredded beets on top of tacos.
Raw beets are also delicious shredded into a green salad.
They do taste a bit more "like dirt" if you eat them raw, so I wouldn't recommend raw beets for your first tasting if you don't like earthy flavors.
#3 Roasted fresh beets.
This is the most delicious way to serve beets. Hands down.
Roasting them brings out their natural sweeten because as you heat them up, the sugars inside caramelize.
Look at this beautiful roasted beet salad from cookieandkate.com (one of the best vegetarian blogs out there).
I make roasted beets a lot in the fall after I harvest my beets. I always follow this recipe from cookie and kate: https://cookieandkate.com/perfect-roasted-beets/
Check it out!
That's the last red vegetable I'm highlighting for the month of February! I hope you were able to try red grapefruit, bell peppers and beets this month!
https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/169966/nutrients
Ninfali P, Antonini E, Frati A, Scarpa ES. C-Glycosyl Flavonoids from Beta vulgaris Cicla and Betalains from Beta vulgaris rubra: Antioxidant, Anticancer and Antiinflammatory Activities-A Review. Phytother Res. 2017 Jun;31(6):871-884. doi: 10.1002/ptr.5819. Epub 2017 May 2. PMID: 28464411.
de Oliveira SPA, do Nascimento HMA, Sampaio KB, de Souza EL. A review on bioactive compounds of beet (Beta vulgaris L. subsp. vulgaris) with special emphasis on their beneficial effects on gut microbiota and gastrointestinal health. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2021;61(12):2022-2033. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2020.1768510. Epub 2020 May 25. PMID: 32449379.
Silva DVTD, Baião DDS, Ferreira VF, Paschoalin VMF. Betanin as a multipath oxidative stress and inflammation modulator: a beetroot pigment with protective effects on cardiovascular disease pathogenesis. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2022;62(2):539-554. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2020.1822277. Epub 2020 Sep 30. PMID: 32997545.