20 Nifty Things To Do With Beets
It’s hard to fathom just how beneficial and versatile beets really are given their admittedly crummy taste when commercially manufactured and plunked into supermarket-friendly steel cans. If your well-intentioned parents paired Sunday night meatloaves and random roasted chickens with that particular tastebud-offending incarnation, insisting that you had to be a member of the clean plate club or you’d end up sleeping at the dinner table, your current hatred for the seemingly limp root is admittedly justified.
But prepare them fresh and it’s a whole different story altogether. The folate and antioxidant rich gems – which are as delicious raw as they are steamed and roasted — are pleasantly toothsome and sweet with a distinctively earthy undertone. Eating them genuinely does the body good, not only in terms of offering cancer prevention benefits but also reducing inflammation, aiding the digestive tract, boosting the memory and facilitating overall wellness. They’re also quite easy to grow and among the more affordable veggies in the produce department!
Still skeptical? Okay, fine. So maybe it’s going to take a lot more to convince you to incorporate them into your diet, but at the very least, you might want to take baby steps by making them a part of your planet-friendly lifestyle. Beets can be transformed into all sorts of intriguing handy household aids, particularly if you lean toward the crafty side of things or you really appreciate whipping up your own natural beauty aids.
FOR YOUR BEAUTY REGIMEN
1) Create A Temporary Hair Dye
2) Whip Up A Lovely Crimson Cheek and Lip Stain
3) Restore Your Weary Epidermis With A Moisturizing Beet Face Mask
4) Feel Zippidy-Doo-Dah-Day With This Natural Facial Toner
In a blender, combine 1/2 cup of coarsely chopped cabbage with one peeled beet and then add ¼ cup of water until the mixture is thoroughly combined. Pour into an ice cube tray until frozen solid. Whenever you want to naturally clean and tone your skin, just rub one solid cube over your face and voila – fresh faced beauty will be yours!
FOR YOUR TASTEBUDS
1) Make Natural Food Coloring
2) Dazzle Guests With Homemade Roasted Beet Crackers
3) Sample Beet Red Pasta With Walnuts, Goat Cheese & Balsamic Vinegar
4) Nosh On Beet Ravioli
5) Gobble Up Red Velvet Cupcakes
6) Or Have a ‘Second Helping’ Of Chocolate Beet Cupcakes
7) Crown Your Cakes With Chemical-Free, Naturally Red Tinted Frosting
8) Move Over Plain Old Tahini-Garbanzo Hummus…Beet Hummus Is In Town
9) Indulge In Kinda-Sorta Healthy Fried Beet “Potato” Chips or Baked Beet Chips
FOR YOUR DIY LIFESYLE
1) Create A Chemical-Free Fabric Dye
2) Stencil Snow With Sweet Little Beet Nothings
3) Tint Yarn
4) Make Kiddie-Safe Tattoos
6) Create Beet Juice Paintings
7) Try Your Hand At Whipping Out Some Beet-Print Stationery
**Just a little friendly advice: Whether you’re planning on consuming beets or using them for any of the other applications mentioned above, please wear heavy rubber gloves while prepping them because the little buggers will stain-stain-stain anything in site. If you inadvertently get shot in the face or for some crazy reason one of your gloved fingers blows a gasket and makes direct contact with a freshly peeled beet, just rub the stained region vigorously with a lemon juice and salt ‘paste’ followed by soap and water.**
Image via B.D.’s world
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