Saturday 6 October 2012

Beets!


“Some people are susceptible to "beeturia," the passing of red colored urine and stools after eating beets. Beeturia is harmless but is often mistaken for the dangerous conditions of blood in the urine or stool.” (Source: http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/25-facts-about-beets.html)


Maria likes to pop in at "convenient" times :)
I, for one, can support this claim. Not only have I been a victim of beeturia, but I too suffered from its detrimental hypochondriac symptom. Last fall, I made a delicious maple-roasted beet soup. Since then, it has been competing with seafood chowder for number 1 on my mental list of favourite soups.

About 4 hours after my first bowl of said soup, I became subject to beeturia. My immediate thought: kidney disease. I quickly became nauseated, started getting abdominal cramps, and wondering how I was going to spend the little time I had left on earth. Before dashing out to buy a lottery ticket and dying my hair blue, I did a quick google search. Result 1 of 68 000 000 hits, 0.21 seconds later, I adjusted my diagnosis to beeturia. Coincidentally, as my browser disappeared, so did my abdominal cramps and the nausea.


I’ve done a bit of research, namely a quick scan of Wikipedia and a brief youtube search. The results? First, it appears beeturia does not, contrary to popular belief, say anything about my genotype. Great. Second, according to Michael Scott, nobody likes beets.  

Dwight: People live beets
Michael: Nobody likes beets
Dwight: Everybody loves beets
Michael: Nobody likes beets, Dwight. Why don’t you grow something that everybody does like? You should grow candy. I’d love a piece of candy right now. Not a beet

And of course, a funny video: “Those are the money beets”


I could go on to spell out the reasons why I am going to have to side with Dwight. Instead, I’ll let the waffles do the talking. 



Rosemary Beet Waffles



2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup quinoa flour
1/3 cup white flour
3 tsp dried rosemary
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
½ cup milk
½ cup beet juice
2 tbsp sugar
1 cup minced beets
2 tbsp butter, melted

Skin beets, saving the stalks and the skins. Quarter beets. In a small saucepan, bring beets, skins and stalks to a boil. Boil until beets are tender. Remove beets from water and finely chop. Reserve ½ cup beet  broth for waffles, and store the rest to make yummy soups or risottos!

Mix dry ingredients. Whisk together wet ingredients. Combine and stir in beets. Stir in melted butter. Make in waffle grid. Keep in oven (200) until ready to serve. Serve with a spoonful of apple sauce and a good drizzle of maple syrup.






Monday 1 October 2012

Wild Rice Waffles with Salmon and Beet Greens


Obviously school and studying have swallowed both me and my time. I have nothing interesting to say in today's post. In worse news, something is wrong with my camera so the waffle photos today are scarce. In better news, I have filled the visual space with diagrams from my study notes! Adding study notes in your blog posts guarantees an A on the midterm...right? 

Did you know, "Turtles can walk around for hours with no oxygen supply to their brains. In contrast, our brains are absolutely dependant on a continuous supply of well-oxygenated blood. After just 10 seconds of brain ischemia, we lose consciousness. After 20 second, electrical activity ceases, and just after a few minutes, irreversible damage usually begins" (Nolte — The Human Brain: An Introduction to its Functional Anatomy".  

That was an excerpt from the textbook which acted as my nemesis, my date, and the subject of my gaze (both present and out to lunch) all weekend. I have a midterm today. It is in 4 hours and 56 minutes, and I still don't feel I have a complete grasp on the blood supply to the brain. And the cranial nerves? Forget about them. How am I supposed to remember all 12!

Oh yah, I promised waffles in my blog. Here they are!

Wild Rice Waffles with Salmon and Beet Greens
Inspired by Dorie Greenspan's Wild Rice Waffles with Wild Mushroom Sauce 

Olive oil
½ onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
pinch salt, pepper
Assorted spices (thyme, basic, turmeric, rosemary, cayenne)
2 cups cooked wild rice
1 ¼ cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
1 cup veg broth
¼ cup milk + 2 tbsp vinegar
2 eggs

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions. Cook until translucent. Add garlic, spices and cook another minute. Add wild rice and stir until combined. Turn off heat. Reserve.

Mix dry ingredients. Combine wet, whisking together. Mix all together. Stir in rice.

Honey-Ginger Salmon

3 tbsp honey
cilantro
fresh grated ginger
¼ cup hoisin
1 tbsp brown sugar

Mix together sauce. Spread over salmon filet. Broil 4 minutes on either side. Baste once throughout.

For beet greens: in a skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add roughly chopped beet greens with their stalks. Wilt with a bit of soy sauce or balsamic.