If you’re anything like me, you probably thought beets were gross as a kid. To me, they just seemed sort of slimy, and I couldn’t seem to get into the taste. Later on, my mom introduced me to sauteed beet greens, and I liked those, so I thought I might give them another chance. I’ve noticed that when you cook down beets as spirals, the sweet flavor tempers a bit, making it neutral enough to add to whatever you’d like.
The best part about using beets in your meals is the amazing health benefits! They have tons of vitamins and minerals, help with inflammation and digestive health, improve athletic functionality, and have anti-cancer properties!
So many stores are selling veggies that are already spiralized. I try to keep down on unnecessary plastic packaging, but I do like to pick up some of the Green Giant veggie varieties (riced cauliflower and broccoli, butternut squash noodles, etc.) and thought I would give the beet noodles a try.
I think there are a ton of different recipes this would be great in, but tonight I tried to go with a traditional pasta. To add to the pasta, I chopped up yellow sweet peppers, onions, garlic, and mushrooms.
I added the vegetables to a saute pan with a small amount of extra virgin olive oil and some salt and pepper.
While those were cooking down, I added the beets to a larger saute pan. You can cook these from frozen – all you have to do is put them into a heated, non-stick pan and cover for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Be careful, though. The beet color can really get into everything, especially my clean white stove!
When the onions and peppers were tender, I added some sauce to the pan. You can use any sauce you’d like. I would have loved to use my own, but I used what was on hand – Trader Joe’s Vodka Sauce.
The beets are done when the tenders are soft and take on a “noodle” consistency. I poured the vegetables and tomato sauce over them and added a sprinkle of cheese. The noodles are a really pretty color, but I tried super-hard to get a good picture of this and I just couldn’t. It may not look amazing, but it tasted really good! I would definitely make this again – next time, I’ll try butternut squash noodles.
This meal is completely vegetarian, and it could easily be vegan if you omit the cheese or use Daiya cheese. It’s not super low-carb (8 grams net for the pasta and 12 grams net for the sauce), but it’s not as high in carbs as pasta is, and given all those health benefits, it’s a dinner you can feel good about!
Breeanna Living Brilliantly 