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Garden-fresh Vegetables Without the Garden
Summer is the time that vegetables shine! Many people are pulling beautiful zucchini, tomatoes, beans, peppers and greens out of their gardens. Fresh vegetables are in season, and you may find yourself desiring them more than usual. Go with it! Until the recent days of automobiles, airplanes and refrigeration, our bodies were used to getting fresh vegetables only during the short months of the growing season. Thousands of years of eating does leave an impression, and a healthy body will naturally crave more fresh fruits and vegetables in the summertime.
Side note: I have observed that people who are in a focused time of healing don't have this craving for fresh produce, and people who are needing to focus on detox can have fresh vegetable cravings year-round. That's okay, your body knows what it needs! Listen to your body's innate intelligence!
But depending on your situation, you may not have a garden, which makes fresh vegetables a little harder to come by. This is the case for me again this year. So today I thought I would share some ways to get fresh vegetables.
#1 Find a friend who gardens
Now, I am not telling you to mooch off a friend, leaving them to do all the hardwork. But many gardeners find themselves overflowing with vegetables right about now. Some of them may be happy just to see their hard work end up in a grateful stomach, while others would appreciate some help harvesting, preserving, or weeding in exchange for some produce. This is the best way to get vegetables, in my opinion. You will get to spend time in the wonderful sun, get to know your friend better, and maybe even learn a little about gardening. And nothing beats a fresh, hand-picked vegetable served up for dinner!
#2 Join a CSA
CSA stands for community supported agriculture. In a "working share," individuals come together under the leadership of the organizer and spend a set amount of time working around in a garden or farm for a share of the produce. There is usually a monetary investment as well. Most CSAs accept members only around the beginning of the year, so look for one to join for the next growing season. Some CSAs also offer a "non-working share," which allows an individual to pay only, and is a great option for those with jobs or situations that don't allow them the flexibility to work in the garden.
#3 Visit a local farmer's market
This one is an option for most people, but it can be a little tricky. Just because it's at a farmers market does not mean it was grown in a way that is different than the commercial food. That being said, there is going to be some benefit from eating local, naturally-ripened food, so don't rule it out if it's all you can get. The best way to know what you are buying is to talk to the farmers. Ask them how where they are located, and about their farm or garden. See what types of things they use for pesticides (organic food is often grown with organic pesticides), and what other farming/gardening practices they use. While it is not a guarantee, you may be able to find amazing and fresh produce, and at the same time provide support to that small local farm.
#4 Buy local produce at your grocery store
Here is Colorado, at the peak of the season, stores carry many things that are "Colorado Proud," meaning they are grown in Colorado. Not all stores label where their produce comes from, so ask your grocer which items are grown in your area, state, or in the United States. Made in the USA does not automatically make that food better, but knowledge is always power!
So there you go! Four ways to get garden-fresh produce without a garden. How about you? Where do you get your garden-fresh produce?
Making New Ruts
We often get stuck in ruts. It's easiest to keep doing the same thing—once a pattern (good or bad) is established, we tend to keep doing things the same way. One of my deepest ruts is how fast I live my life. How much I try to squeeze into each day to live up to my own expectations. How hard it is for me to be okay with down-time. I have been consciously making different choices to try and get out of this rut for the last 3 years, but because it is so ingrained, it has been slow going. Of course there has been progress! I have become so much more okay with slowing down, saying no, and doing things just for fun. But a recent event has given me the opportunity for some concentrated time in the new ruts.
The event? Being sick! Sicker than I have ever been in my life. Sick and recovering for 2 weeks! Sick enough that all of my energy went just to taking care of myself.
It was hard to do. Taking care of myself is something I have only really learned to do in the last few years... when I found the GAPS protocol. It was then that I started to believe that it is important, and right, to take care of myself. And I began learning how to do it. I have been a slow learner... being busy and productive was so deeply ingrained in me that it has required a lot of purposeful energy and conscious thought to make choices that take me out of that rut.
I still considered myself a beginner at self-care. But after these two weeks I may be about to level up!
I had to let go of so many things as I allowed my body to heal. And I mean really let go. I could not catch up, make up, or push through like I usually can. I was focused on one thing: me. And that focus was obligatory, I had no real choice in the matter.
As I canceled my schedule day after day, I had to remember that my worth was unattached to my productivity or presence.
As I thought about everything on my to-do list that was not getting done, I had to remember that God is in control of growing my business.
As I gave my body the best support I could using herbs, essential oils, vitamins, and meat stock, I had to remember that healing is complex, and our bodies are amazing!
As I wondered at times if my body was strong enough to handle whatever was going on, I had to remember that it was okay to ask for help, and to receive it.
I was sick enough for long enough that I also needed time to recover. That means I couldn't jump back in a full speed once I was feeling better. I had to evaluate my important tasks, and be realistic in what I could accomplish in between naps. Part of me thinks that I will go back to how I was before. But most of me doesn't want that. Slowing down is refreshing and freeing. Tasks are so much easier when I let God carry the burden, instead of trying to bear it on my shoulders alone. I don't know if I can stay out of my old ruts, but I pray that I can. I want to keep making these new ruts deeper.
As I go, Onward!
Real Food: More Than the Sum of Its Parts
Every time I learn more about the complex interactions between the human body and different nutrients, bacteria, and dozens of other factors, I am blown away! Not sure what I mean? As an example, this was mentioned in my latest post. A seed has enough intelligence to protect itself from being digested, but then is able to release those protections when the conditions are right to grow! All while it's still a seed! And that complicated process relates only to the seed. We haven’t even begun to explore the combining of that seed with some other food, or in a different form, or after the seed grows up. Not to mention the effect stomach acid levels, digestive enzyme activity, and different gut flora have on that seed. And the list goes on and on. Therefore we see that our bodies, and the processes that happen inside them, are incredibly intricate. And it begs the question:
Are vitamins, or carb/protein ratios really what it’s all about?
Eating real food is more than eating food-shaped packages of vitamins, proteins, and fibers. Real food is dynamic, and what you get from a particular food is conditional, and depends on several factors.
Growing Conditions: The actual nutritional value of that particular piece of food depends on the conditions it was grown in, including sun exposure, water quality, and the amount of vitamins, minerals and healthy bacteria in the soil or food the animal was eating.
Preparation Methods: After it is grown, different ways of preparing food will make it more or less digestible; helpful, stressful, or even harmful to the human body.
Individual Body Status: Even if it’s prepared properly, each individual body's environment has a role in determining the amount of benefit or harm that food will have.
In fact, a food's helpfulness to an individual body is dependent on the season, metabolic needs, current hormone state, and a myriad of other factors that are going on in the body at that moment. So what's helpful to your body in the summer may be harmful in winter. Or what's beneficial to eat at noon may weigh your body down at dinnertime. Every minute your metabolic needs may be different.
This is why "eating healthy" cannot be reduced to fortifying processed foods with vitamins, or taking the "perfect" supplement mix. It is so, so much more! Now that you know all this, eating healthy may sound like an unattainable goal. And in some ways it is. Even if we are extremely in tune with our bodies, it is unlikely that we will think “I need 5.78 mcg of calcium and 4.24 mg of vitamin D at 2:57pm”… and so on. And this is my first point.
There is no magic pill or secret supplement!
Even if the advertised effects are real, it doesn’t mean that it will work for you! Your body may need something else entirely. If anyone tells you that they have the one product that will fix all your ills, run the other way! On the other hand, the innateintelligence inside our bodies does know what it needs, and how to get it. We can work on listening to what our bodies are telling us. I call this becoming an expert detective (for more, see chapter 7 of Notes From A GAPS Practitioner).
As we renew the partnership with our body, we will begin to understand its signals about what foods will best support our bodies at that moment. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride talks about this in a wonderful article, One Man’s Meat is Another Man’s Poison. In it she shares how important it is to listen to your body telling you what food to eat at the moment, and how much of it to eat. Becoming an expert detective does not happen overnight. It is a commitment to observe, experiment, create theories, and modify them as needed. It will get easier with time and experience, and every time you learn something, your health will benefit. And you will have taken one more step in your journey toward better health.
Onward!
Disclosure: Contains an affiliate link, which helps support my blogging. Your trust is important to me, and I only recommend resources I trust.
How to Shop Like Betty: Tips on Nutrient-Dense Shopping
In the last post we discussed the differences in food quality, and explored the intricate way God designed our senses to be able to taste, smell, and see the difference. But, as amazing as all this is, we hit a reality check.
We can't all grow our own garden vegetables, have our seafood overnighted, or raise a cow in the backyard. It can be a struggle to even afford purchasing these things.
And that's okay. Most of us are in the same boat.
While I still encourage people to think differently about food budget—considering it instead as part of your health-care budget, I understand that at some point, cash-flow is a limiting factor. You can only do the best you can, prioritizing the things that seem important to your body and family, and go from there.
I want to share a few tips with you. Ones that can help you put more nutrient-dense food on the table. Today let's talk about how to shop.
Nutrient-Dense Shopping:
Shop sales, coupon, or go to wholesale stores (like Costco), and buy in bulk when the food is a good price.
I actually specifically recommend Costco because of their conscientious sourcing, and their larger selection of organic items. This automatically leads to better quality food options. Buying in bulk, and on sale are also great ways to get things like coconut oil and sugar (to feed your SCOBY, of course), as well as non-grocery items like Epsom salt, soaps and shampoos.
Find out when your favorite organic-carrying grocery store marks things down for quick-sale.
Stores go through their produce, dairy and meat products on a regular basis in order to catch and mark-down food that is about to expire. Usually this is scheduled, and if you know the time and day you can show up soon after (or during) this mark-down period and get incredible deals! You can also check to see if there is a local discount grocery store, that takes almost out-of-date items and sells them at a large discount.
Produce: The small health food stores that I shop at usually put the older assorted produce in $2 bags. Often times it comes out to roughly a 90% discount! You have to be creative with using it, and be willing to give away food you may not be able to eat (like maybe potatoes, for example), but I often walk out of these stores with $15-30 worth of organic produce that cost me $4-6.
Meat: Similarly, stores mark down meat when it is nearing it's expiration date. Find out what days they go through the organic produce, and shop at that time. Again, I have found even better deals in smaller stores, where they have more to loose by throwing away food. And don't be afraid to buy frozen meat! Very few nutrients are lost when the meat is frozen. If it comes down to buying fresh commercial meat, or frozen natural or organic meat, the latter will definitely give you more nutrition for your buck.
Know when to spend your money: when quality really matters, or when it varies tremendously.
There are some foods that are more difficult to find on sale, and ones that I recommend paying more for. Many of these items can be purchased much "cheaper," but the quality ranges from very poor to very good, and you get what you pay for. Dairy products in particular are very manipulated by manufacturers, and should be bought with that in consideration.
Dairy: If you can get raw milk, then do it! Otherwise, I do not recommend consuming pasteurized milk unless it has been cultured, like in yogurt or cheese. Aside from milk, most dairy products tend to keep longer, and may be more difficult to find on sale. Organic is important here, because commercial cows are given many antibiotics and hormones that will come through the milk and affect you. Don't "buy cheap" in these areas, especially butter, as it may be a main source of cholesterol (fat) for you. Cream can be purchased at the store, and although it has been pasteurized (some more than others), it is more stable than milk, and is less affected by pasteurization. Cheese, yogurt and sour cream have all been cultured, and those active cultures are working hard to counteract the damaging effects of pasteurization.
Eggs: Deciding which eggs to buy will depend on your area. If you can't purchase them from a local farm (real free-range are better than store-bought organic), then choose your egg based on the color of the yolk, and the taste. The yolk should be bright yellow or orange, meaning the chickens have been out in the sun and may even be able to eat bugs and fresh greens. Never buy eggs from vegetarian-fed hens. Believe me, hens are not vegetarians! Eggs are another large source of cholesterol, and it's best to buy the best quality of eggs you can find (these are not always the most expensive).
Look for bulk ordering companies or clubs.
You don't have to join a CSA to get farm-fresh produce. There are companies like Azure Standard, Miller's Organic Farm, and others that send you meat and produce from a farm (maybe in another state) and deliver it to you. This is a great way to buy things that are more difficult to get, like lard, nuts or dried fruit. This can also be a good way to get non-grocery items.
I hope these tips help you make more nutrient-dense food purchases. What other ways have you found to make nutrient-dense food affordable? Share your knowledge with the community in the comments below. Happy shopping!
Onward!
GAPS Milkshake
Our recipe this week is a simple, but powerful one! It is called the GAPS™ milkshake, and it packs a powerful punch! This delicious, satisfying and helpful beverage is a wonderful way to daily consume your freshly-pressed juices, and can even be a meal.
The GAPS™ milkshake is mix of juice, protein, and fat. Because it is easily digested, usually in about 20 minutes, it can be eaten when you don't have much time to sit and digest. But because it contains fat and protein, as well as sugar, it can sustain you for a while, often a few hours.
Let's get down to making it! You need a few simple ingredients.
Freshly pressed juices (I like carrots, but you can use any juice mixture)
Sour cream (creme fraische), coconut oil, or another fat
Raw egg (whole or just the yoke)
Raw honey (optional, and only a little!)
Juice the carrot (and/or other vegetables and fruits). I use organic vegetables so I just rinse them off (sometimes). You can see my (not) high-end juicer in the picture! But it works! Don't feel like you have to spend hundreds of dollars to juice (this one was about $40). It is a centrifuge juicer, and I try to consume the juices within 15 minutes to get the most enzyme activity, but again, it works! Successful GAPS is not about perfection, it is about action!
Once you have your juice in a glass, you are ready to add your other ingredients. Add 1-2 raw egg yolks or whole raw eggs. If you do add the white, I recommend using a spring whisk or a blender to break up the white--that is a hard texture to get down! With raw eggs, it is also important to know the source of your eggs (were the chickens healthy) and try not to touch the shell with the egg. If there happens to be any salmonella present, it is likely still on the outside of the egg, not the inside. Of course, there is no guarantee, especially if the eggs are washed (this breaks down the protective layer around the egg), so consume at your own risk! But I have yet to get sick, even using store bought eggs sometimes.
Add the sour cream (a good-sized dollop). The sour cream is there primarily to slow the absorption of sugar from the juice—add to taste. You can also add coconut oil if you are not tolerating dairy (technically this makes it a GAPS Smoothie) Stir, whisk or blend together.
You can add a little honey if you need to. It is better to add some fruit to your juice ingredients instead of honey, but that isn't always an option, especially on early stages. I have found that the egg whites are a little bitter, and when I add a whole egg instead of just the yolk, I often need a little honey to help it go down. That's it! All that's left is to enjoy it!
As I said, this is a great "meal" for those on-the-go mornings. Especially if you are hungry early in the morning, this is a great thing to drink, as it is not a burden to the digestive system. The juices support your body's cleansing processes, which are often happening from 4am-10am every day. You could also add beet kvass to this beverage as an extra liver cleanser. It can overwhelm the flavor, so I prefer to drink mine separately. Experiment with your preferences, and with the recipe! Let us know how you like it best!
Onward!
GAPS Milkshake
Freshly Pressed Juices
Sour cream, creme faiche, coconut oil, or another fat
Raw Egg ((whole or just the yoke))
Raw Honey ((optional and only a little))
Juice the carrot (and/or other vegetables and fruits).
Add 1-2 raw egg yolks or whole raw eggs. If you do add the white, I recommend using a spring whisk or a blender to break up the white–that is a hard texture to get down!
Add the sour cream to taste. The sour cream is there primarily to slow the absorption of sugar from the juice.
Stir, whisk or blend together.
Add a little honey if you need to
With raw eggs, it is also important to know the source of your eggs (were the chickens healthy) and try not to touch the shell with the egg. If there happens to be any salmonella present, it is likely still on the outside of the egg, not the inside. Of course, there is no guarantee, especially if the eggs are washed (this breaks down the protective layer around the egg), so consume at your own risk!
I have found that the egg whites are a little bitter, and when I add a whole egg instead of just the yolk, I often need a little honey to help it go down.
GAPS Milkshake
prep time: cook time: total time:
ingredients:
- Freshly Pressed Juices
- Sour cream, creme faiche, coconut oil, or another fat
- Raw Egg ((whole or just the yoke))
- Raw Honey ((optional and only a little))
instructions:
How to cook GAPS Milkshake
- Juice the carrot (and/or other vegetables and fruits).
- Add 1-2 raw egg yolks or whole raw eggs. If you do add the white, I recommend using a spring whisk or a blender to break up the white–that is a hard texture to get down!
- Add the sour cream to taste. The sour cream is there primarily to slow the absorption of sugar from the juice.
- Stir, whisk or blend together.
- Add a little honey if you need to
NOTES:
With raw eggs, it is also important to know the source of your eggs (were the chickens healthy) and try not to touch the shell with the egg. If there happens to be any salmonella present, it is likely still on the outside of the egg, not the inside. Of course, there is no guarantee, especially if the eggs are washed (this breaks down the protective layer around the egg), so consume at your own risk!
I have found that the egg whites are a little bitter, and when I add a whole egg instead of just the yolk, I often need a little honey to help it go down.
Vintage Food Hack: Fermenting (Part 1)
Ever kept a book around forever unopened? Then you finally crack it open and realize you have been missing out?I recently had this experience with The Art of Fermentation by Katz. I loved the idea of this book, (and of having time to read all its 438 pages) but I just never did. In fact, I didn’t even open it, not once!
That is, until I had to write an article on lacto-fermentation. I opened “the book” to see if it would be useful and credible as a reference. Wow, was it ever! If I didn’t have a deadline, I would have sat down and read the entire thing cover to cover then and there!
Side note: In the category of things you should know about me. I love to read, and I am a procrastinate-until-the-last-minute-but-somehow-get-it-done kind of person. Hence, my situation. Okay, back to the point.
I wrote a pretty good article, if I do say so myself. It was informative and official and all that jazz (and you can read it here). But what I want to share with you, my readers, is the joy and excitement I get when I learn about and think about fermenting!
Why, you ask?
Well let me tell you...
I LOVE learning to do things that our ancestors knew how to do. I am an Old Soul, and I try to make the most of every opportunity I have to do things the old-fashioned way.
I HATE throwing food away. It comes from growing up in a large family, I suppose. Or perhaps my Hungarian ancestry. But fermenting allow me to preserve food longer.
I LOVE using fermenting as a hack! I can get more out of my vegetables by fermenting them because it increases the nutritional availability of what is present in the vegetable naturally, without adding anything else!
I CAN buy vegetables in season, and locally!
I GET probiotic benefit from the vegetables, and variety matters.
I KNOW what I am eating in my sauerkraut, banana peppers, etc because I added the ingredients.
I SAVE money by making my own ferments.
I GET to know and connect with what I am consuming, which is an important part of thoughtful eating.
Does that jazz you up at all?
Can’t wait to get started, you say?
Keep calm and hold on.
Soon we will talk a little more about what fermenting is and how to get started.
Stay tuned!
And Onward!
The One About Fat
Do you know what makes food delicious and nutritious?
Today we are going to breech a taboo subject. Today we are talking about fat!
Did you know that fat is good for you? That’s right, good ol’ fashioned animal fat--butter, lard, cream, bacon grease--yum!!!
I know I know, I just opened up a can of worms… well, since it’s open, let’s do a little fishing!
How can I possibly say fat is healthy? Low-fat diets are preached everywhere--school, friends, doctors, television! Isn’t it a know fact that fat is clogging our arteries and causing heart attacks and strokes? Everyone knows that low-fat is the healthy way to go.
But what if fat is not bad for us?
In my family, we tell the story of my great-grandmother, who lived into her nineties DESPITE the fact that she would eat the gristle off everyone’s plates. But maybe she lived so long BECAUSE she ate that gristle? How can I say that? Because we NEED fat!
It is an important building block in every one of our cells, and is necessary for many body systems to even function.
What if fat is good for us?
How can I say that? Let’s look at that together.
It is important to eat fat with any food that we eat--let’s talk about why.
Carbs and Sugars:
When we eat simple carbs and sugars (even natural ones), the sugar is quickly absorbed, causing the blood sugar to spike. The body then releases lots of insulin to bring the blood sugar back down. Often, the blood sugar drops back down too quickly and triggers hunger a couple hours later. Then this whole cycle repeats. When eaten with these foods, fat slows the absorption of sugar, leading to a slow and gentle rise in blood sugar, and avoiding the insulin drop and the “blood sugar roller coaster.”
Vegetables:
We are told to eat a lot of vegetables because they are full of vitamins and minerals that we need. This is true, but those great vitamins and minerals are not very easily absorbed by us because we lack something cows have-extra stomachs. We need help to extract even a little of the nutrition available in a vegetable. Enter fat! When eaten with vegetables, fat provides carriers for many vitamins and minerals, allowing us to reap the benefit of plants beyond the fiber.
Protein:
Protein, too, needs to be eaten with fat. When protein is absorbed from our intestines, the body needs to pair it with vitamin A (a fat-soluble vitamin) before using it. When we don’t eat fat along with our protein (think boneless, skinless chicken breasts), the body steals vitamin A from its storage place in the liver. If this happens regularly, we can become vitamin A deficient. Aside from causing vitamin A deficiency symptoms (night-blindness and immune suppression), it can lead to vitamin D deficiency. And because these two are linked, you will not be able to correct a vitamin D deficiency (no matter how much you supplement) unless you correct the vitamin A deficiency as well. Fortunately, both are present in animal fat!
So when do we eat fat? All the time! With everything!
Fat makes our food taste good! Low fat=low taste. In processed food, the taste void is often made up by increasing sugar or non-food substances like MSG. Adding fat back into your diet adds back natural flavor. Hello, delicious food!
About eating fat:
If you have been following a low-fat diet for a while, you can’t just start eating tons of fat--you will likely feel nauseous and may get loose stools. Instead, gradually increase your fat. Eating fermented foods or raw apple cider vinegar can help too. I recommend trying to add just ½ cup of added animal fat a day at first. Once your body is used to fat, try increasing the amount to 3-4 TBS of fat with each meal, or 1 ½ cups of added animal fat per day. After a while, your daily intake will likely settle between these amounts, varying based on your body’s needs. Listen to your body and eat as much as you are wanting. Once your body knows it has the option to eat fat when needed, it will be able to tell you how much it needs.
Here are some ideas to increasing your dietary fat:
add a couple TBS of butter to your steamed vegetables (per serving)!
add creme fraiche (sour cream) to everything!
fry up your vegetables, meat or eggs in several TBS of butter, lard (learn to make your own) or bacon grease!
have a little bread with your butter!
eat your gristle!
What creative and delicious ideas do you have about how to eat more fat? Share them here!
Onward!
Simple Roasted Beets
Beets... either you love 'em or you hate 'em...
...but did you know they really are really good for you?
Not only are beets high in many vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C, beets have been shown to lower blood pressure, detoxify the body (especially by cleansing the blood and the liver), fight inflammation, boost stamina in workouts, and more! And, of course, beets may turn your stool and urine red or pink when you eat them, which should be enough to make your ten-year old boys try it!
Ya don't dig beets, ya say? Here's how to get dem good beets in ya!
#1 Try golden beets. These beets are milder and have less of the "dirt" taste.
#2 Buy or raise homegrown. Fresh beets are more delicious and nutritious!
#3 Juice your beets. Caution: a little beet goes a long way--use just a little!
#4 Drink beet kvass. This fermented drink has intensified cleansing properties.
#5 Bake your beets with lots of butter and salt. Try the delicious recipe below!
Oven-Baked Beets recipe
Ingredients for oven baked beets:
Beets (you will want more than 1, believe you me!)
Sea Salt (I recommend Celtic, Himalayan or Real Salt)
Butter (none of that fake stuff!)
Oven safe dish (glass or ceramic is best), a size that snugly hold the beets
Directions for Oven Baked Beets:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Wash the beets.
Cut off the tops and tails of the beets--not too much or all the juice will bleed out!
Cut an X into the beets, going only about halfway through the beets.
Place the beets in the oven-safe dish, cut side up.
Place a generous pat of butter in the middle of each X.
Salt lightly--you can add more later.
Cover the beets with parchment paper, then cover with a lid or tin foil to trap in the moisture.
Place the beets in the oven, cook for 20-30 min, then check for doneness. They are ready when a fork or knife pokes in easily.
Consume immediately as a side or a snack.
Drizzle some of the butter from the bottom of the pan back onto the beets when you serve them.
If you have any left, you can later reheat them in the oven or on the stove-top, or eat them cold!
You can't beat butter and beets!
Do you have a favorite beet recipe? Share with us your favorite way to eat beets!
Simple Roasted Beets
prep time: cook time: total time:
ingredients:
- Beets (you will want more than 1, believe you me!)
- Sea Salt (I recommend Celtic, Himalayan or Real Salt)
- Butter (none of that fake stuff!)
- Oven safe dish (glass or ceramic is best), a size that snugly hold the beets
instructions:
How to cook Simple Roasted Beets
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Wash the beets.
- Cut off the tops and tails of the beets--not too much or all the juice will bleed out!
- Cut an X into the beets, going only about halfway through the beets.
- Place the beets in the oven-safe dish, cut side up.
- Place a generous pat of butter in the middle of each X.
- Salt lightly--you can add more later.
- Cover the beets with parchment paper, then cover with a lid or tin foil to trap in the moisture.
- Place the beets in the oven, cook for 20-30 min, then check for doneness. They are ready when a fork or knife pokes in easily.
- Consume immediately as a side or a snack.
- Drizzle some of the butter from the bottom of the pan back onto the beets when you serve them.
- If you have any left, you can later reheat them in the oven or on the stove-top, or eat them cold!