Pickled Beets Recipe

Today, I want to share my recipe for pickled beets.   I love root vegetables, and beets are one of my favorites.   I enjoy them in salads, as a garnish with cornbread and collard greens, or with nothing at all.  They are delicious.

My preference is to prepare them using the recipe below.  But I also purchase them for the grocery store already in a jar.  This is my favorite recipe and I can't remember where I got it from. Anyway, I hope you like it.  Here goes.  

Ingredients:

A bunch of three or four medium sized beets

1/3 cup of vinegar (there about or to your taste)

1 medium onion sliced

1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar (to your taste)

1 cup of water or about 1 inch of water in a medium saucepan

1.  Cut off the top of the beets, peel, and rinse them off.

2.  Cut the beets into 1/3 inch slices and place in a medium sized saucepan

3.  Add  sliced onion, vinegar, sugar, and water

4.  Place saucepan on high flame and bring to a boil.  Liquid should start to thicken.  Lower heat as needed and cook until tender.  

That's it.  A very tasty garnish that is a great source of probiotics, which aids in the digestion of other foods.

Swedish Meatballs - Time for Comfort Food

It's time for a comfort food recipe.  

If you are like me, I love my wintertime comfort foods.  Today I'd like to share a Swedish Meatball dish that I love to eat with mashed potatoes and oven roasted lemon brussel sprouts.  I hope you'll try it.  It's delicious.

Meatball Ingredients -

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley minced
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, grated (finely chopped)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 3/4 cup herb breadcrumbs (I like Pepperidge Farm herb seasoned classic stuffing)
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Cream Gravy Ingredients -

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 4 cups beef broth (can substitute chicken broth)
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 cup heavy cream

Mix meat, parsley, allspice, nutmeg, grated onion, salt, pepper, garlic, breadcrumbs, and eggs until combined.

Using a tablespoon measure out the meat mixture into roughly 35 meatballs.

In a large pan, heat 2 tbsp. of olive oil over medium heat.  Add meatballs and cook until browned.  Takes about 5 minutes.

Remove grease from pan -- Lower the heat to medium and add the butter to the pan.  When butter starts to bubble, sprinkle in the flour and cook for 1 minute.  Add the beef broth to the pan a little at a time.  Whisk.

Add salt, pepper, lemon juice, allspice, and nutmeg.  The slowly add cream.  Add meatballs.

Simmer until the gravy has thicken and the meatballs are cooked all the way through 8-10 minutes.

Serve with mashed potatoes or egg noodles, and vegetable of your choice.

That's it.  Enjoy!

Cennetta