Orange Sauteed Beets

I tend to put off making beets just because it takes so long to cook them, then peel them, then slice them and get them to the table. So I end up rarely making them...can you tell I'm a bit of a lazy cook?!

So last night while in the garden I decided to pick a few "baby beets" and then I had a brainstorm. So in keeping with the "from scratch in a flash" vision of this blog, This is what I did. Since there were 3 of us who eat beets (sorry, non-beet-lovers...you don't know what you're missing!) I took 3 beets, washed and peeled them and then grated them with my handy, dandy grater that catches everything in a container below the grater. Meanwhile I sauteed a few tablespoons of chopped onion, then added the grated beets, a dash of salt and pepper and let them saute lightly. I knew orange went well with beets so I went out on my patio and clipped 3 sprigs of orange mint (yes, there is mint with an orange flavor) rinsed them, chopped them and at the last minute, stirred them into the beet and onion mixture.

Oh, my! They were a taste delight! And best of all, it took less than 10 minutes to make them. Meanwhile I had also chopped up the beet greens and had them cooking. So we had yummy beet greens and absolutely "out of this world" orange sauteed beets!

In case you live in North Texas and would like to have some beets to try out this recipe, we sell them at Cypress Lake Ranch.

Quick and Easy Dill Dip

This is a recipe my mother used to make for home business meetings. I have awesome heirloom Mammoth Melting Sugar peas in the garden (and for sale at Cypress Lake Ranch) and this dip is great for vegetables or chips. I make mine with homegrown and dried dill weed.

1 cup sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise (or miracle whip) (I usually use only half that amount of mayo)
1 Tbs. dried onion flakes
1 Tbs. parsley flakes
1 tsp dill weed (or more if you like it to taste more like dill)
1 tsp seasoned salt OR garlic salt OR beau monde seasoning OR any combination

Mix, chill and enjoy with your favorite dip-ables!