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I am a huge fan of beets – not only for their nutritional value but also their taste.  My family immediately turns up their noses when I start cooking them so I am the lone person in my house that will eat them.  No worries – their loss.  This is my favorite way to cook and enjoy beets.

Recipe

• 6 – 8 fresh beets, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
• ⅛ C of extra virgin olive oil
• ⅛ C of balsamic vinegar
• ¼ -½ t of salt (as preferred)
• 1 small red or Valdaldi onion

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Place the cut beets into a shallow baking dish.  Add salt, then olive oil and vinegar.  Stir until the beets are coated.  Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.  Immediately before beets are finished, slice the red onion and then cut slices into halves.  When the beets are done, remove them from the oven, add onions and stir to completely coat with vinegar and oil.  Cover with a lid or aluminum foil for fifteen minutes allowing the onions to soften.  Serve warm or cold.  I prefer cold.  Enjoy!

I think I grew up at the opposite end of the arc. (Of course, that will tell you something about my age!).  As I continue on my path, living life, raising kids, working, and relating to people, I keep seeing signs that we are headed back to the basics in a lot of ways.  I think I grew up in a generation when the novelty of new, “higher-tech” things were always thought to be better – in the food area, it was the generation of infant formula, margarine and Tang (in case you are too young to remember that was powdered orange juice, marketed as the drink of the astronauts).  I found confirmation of this in a cookbook from my elementary school.  I could not believe it, just about every recipe had AT LEAST one can of something – creamed soups, canned veggies, and fried onions, not to mention the amount of bread crumbs,  I have never seen vegetable recipes with so many ingredients, many not including any perishable vegetables…. Canned asparagus with cream of mushroom soup and buttered bread crumbs!  The name of one even boasted “Five Can Casserole”  (cans of tuna, Chinese noodles, cream of chicken soup, evaporated milk and cream of mushroom soup, plus crushed potato chips!).  Now we complain about too many chicken nuggets for the kids, look how we grew up!  I should explain that I am married to the healthiest eater on the planet (he also owns a gym and sells exercise DVDs -check it out at www.halfhourpower.com), and have come to understand his perspective, which is that if he can’t “see”  the ingredients in his head he won’t eat it – so that rules out all unknown sauces and processed foods (for him – the rest of us do this in moderation).  I have even had to agree that he is right.  We seem to eat pretty plain food  – mostly grilled, roasted or steamed.  The recipes usually have few ingredients so shopping is easier and it seems to take less time to prepare.  And I do have to admit I feel a lot better when I eat “cleaner” food.  But I see this trend back to the basics in attitudes toward other things beside food. I try to take the least amount of medicine I can (I am fortunate not to need much at this time) so I try to stay away from most OTC medicines and tell my kids to drink water when they don’t feel well or do the nasal wash instead of cold medicine; and our customers often are looking for simpler toys and green bedding products.  Crafting and DIY are huge and growing industries.  I personally feel a need to get away from some of the craziness of parenting like competitve sports leagues and spend more time hiking or playing at the park.  Even in the technology area, though a new computer, pad or smart phone is always on the list most of us try to keep our kids off the keyboard and in the yard for a reasonable amount of time.  As the pendulum continues to swing, I wonder what we are doing now that we will jettison in the future as too far away from the core? 

Do you try to keep it basic?  Let us know how……