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Friday, February 6, 2009

For the Love of Beets

The lovely Amey of Vegan Eats and Treats was so sweet to send me her illustrated cookzine, Gaxtronomus Maximus. It's filled with adorable pictures and hand-written copies of her favorite vegan recipes from various cookbooks. To celebrate my newfound love of beets, I had to try the Crimson Cabbage Borscht with Tofu-Dill Sour Cream (originally from Voluptuous Vegan) first:

Isn't that color amazing?! Beets are beautiful, and I love how they dye everything red (including your fingertips). This hearty soup contains cubed beets, cabbage, potatoes, white beans, carrots, and kale (which I subbed for the beet greens in the recipe) but you can't tell cause they're all red!

In fact, today (Friday) is National Wear Red Day, when people all over the country wear crimson to show their support for women's heart disease awareness. So I'll definitely be eating the leftover borscht for lunch, and I'm also wearing a red scarf (I'm a sucker for a theme!).

On the heart health theme, even the American Heart Association has a pro-veggie stance. This is from their list of tips to lower cholesterol on their website:
Reduce the meat in your meal
Try meatless meals featuring vegetables or beans — think eggplant lasagna, a big grilled portobello mushroom on a bun in place of a burger, or beans-n-weenies without the weenies. Or think of meat as a condiment in casseroles, stews, soups and spaghetti — use it sparingly, just for flavor, rather than as a main ingredient.
Pretty cool huh?! Now, if only we could get them to advocate full-on veganism....

23 comments:

  1. wow thats pretty cool that the American Heart Association printed that...maybe veganism is next????

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  2. hey cool!
    I'm glad you reminded me about the Wear Red Day... I"m not even dressed yet! I hope you liked that Borscht, isn't the color mesmerizing?

    :) Amey

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  3. I'm wearing pink... does that count? Maybe not.

    Haha to answer your question on my last post, I sometimes eat grains with chopsticks. I always use them for rice, but I never used them fro oatmeal until someone asked if I did. After that, I was curious, so I tried it… it was fun!

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  4. I have on a hot pink scarf...maybe that will count too!

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  5. oooh - the crimson cabbage borscht is beautiful, Bianca! i'm glad you love beets now. took me a few years to love 'em too. well, beets, kale, & cucumbers. i'm working on liking raw carrots now! ahhahaaaaa! very cool on the heart association tidbit! i wish more people would catch on faster that vegetables & veganism rock so hard! :D

    p.s. - whenever i make beets i totally save a little beet juice & freeze a bit. makes for some fun food coloring for frostings and such! squeeeeee!

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  6. Yum that borscht looks fantastic. I was just thinking I hadn't had beets in awhile...

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  7. wow, thanks for posting that quote from the heart association! I love it when a mainstream organization supports eating less meat. And yes, those beets really are gorgeous. Happy Friday!

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  8. Beets are THE BEST. They have such a sweet, earthy flavor. I really could just eat them all day long, they are that refreshing. I am really uncreative when eating them, I just toss cooked beets around in a bit of veganaisse and sea salt. Really simple, really good. But your soup looks scrumptious, I'm definitely going to give it a go.

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  9. I love that about the AHA! I think it's kinda funny that they suggest "beans-n-weenies without the weenies"... Like, why not just say baked beans? :)

    Anyway, that soup is beautiful & it's always awesome that a respected medical organization advocated a veg diet! As you said, maybe veganism will be next (or someday, at least)!

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  10. Pretty! I love beets. And look at you, taking the red theme all the way to your food - you're so hardcore.

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  11. i'd like to see you smile after eating a bowl 'o this :)

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  12. Oooh, that borscht looks delicious! It's totally mocking me, because I have all the ingredients you listed sitting my fridge right now, too. :)

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  13. Whoa, yummmmmm! And kudos to the AHA!

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  14. I love beets!!! And that looks so yummy.

    Thanks for telling me about the green! I realized I gave myself a headache reading it........

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  15. the beets are pretty... but the tofu dill sour cream was what had me drooling. :)

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  16. I love borscht! That's really the only time I eat beets. Carrot-apple-beet-ginger juice is good too.

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  17. I loved that Crimson Cabbage Borscht! It's funny how absolutely everything turned red!

    I'm wearing blue today, what a party pooper!

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  18. Beautiful!! I definitely need to try using beets some more, I'm still mildly nervous about them, haha.

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  19. oh bianca, i really do love all things red :) except i have never had beets. i just dont picture myself liking them. sad :( i'll work on that :)

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  20. I was pretty sure I hated beets until my stepmom made them at Christmas and I fell in luvv. This recipe looks pretty damn tasty!

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  21. That looks luscious! I've been dying to try borscht- the barefoot contessa has a recipe that looks ripe for veganizing...

    And I like that "meat as a condiment" idea. That's one of the things I've been telling my parents, is try to experiment with building meals around veggies, even if meat is going to be a part of it...

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