Dinner

"trust in your calling, be sure your callings true"

I am the odd duck, for, well, many reasons, but chief among them is :

I LOVE BEETS!

Neil and I are doing our grocery shopping at our Wegman's a couple of days ago and there they were, the first of the golden beets of the season. As a rule, I can pass right by the red ones, but these just sang out to me!
All the beet powers that be will tell you that I am doing it wrong, roast whole, then peel.... trust me on this one kiddies, no one needs to know, a couple of days down the road, that you and your hands roasted beets for dinner, just take your good old veggie peeler and whack away pre cooking.
This is not opening a can of LeSueur peas and dumping into the pot, you have to work for these little mouth fulls of love. I sort of skipped a couple of steps here ,but: chop off the green tops of your beets and put in a sink full of clean water. Trim and peel the root part, trim the stems off the greens and chop, wash the stems and greens separate, spin the greens dry. Dice the peeled root part ... not too small.
On double foil, or the heavy duty type if you have it, place beets, a little onion and some ( 3-4 cloves ) quartered garlic, olive oil, s&p.. toss, and make little air tight packets..

( if ,like me ,you are using different beets VERY important that you keep them separate, the red will make everything beet red )

Pre oven
about an hour later, at 350, all puffed up and glorious!
just leave your little beet purses alone, while you toss a little onion, not too much, in a little olive oil, cook for a few, then add your beet stems, cook 4, 5 min.. be careful with the seasoning, because you have already seasoned the beet root.
add your very clean leafy tops, and a half a lemon's juice and a little bit of zest.. cook just a couple of min, really not long at all, then take off the heat and cover.. and just let sit till ready to eat. Beet greens are not a collard or mustard greens.. Think escarole or spinach.. and you can really flash toss, because the tough stem is already cooked...
open your little puffy pockets of joy!

If you want, add FOUR drops of balsamic vinegar .. but I like them just as they are...
Neil's dinner, I just piled up some of the brown rice, added some soy, then topped with the beet greens and beet root, with some garlic bread.. seriously, close to my favorite meal!