Waste Not Want Not

As a poor, I have to make my food last.  Especially when that food comes from the farmer's market.  (I have been known to accuse nearly every farmer's market vendor of ripping me off - not to their face, of course.)  This week, we treated ourselves to a $2.00 bunch of beets.  It wasn't a total rip, but only because I know how to make it last.

I am not even going to mention how I loathe beet-haters, which would surely turn into a blog-long rant.  Haters are simply wrong.

For beets, we use everything but the squeal.  The greens are turned into pesto, and the beets are roasted.  Recipes follow.

Beet Greens Pesto

Ingredients:

Greens, including stems, from one bunch of beets

8 cloves garlic

One handful (approx. 3/4-1 cup) almonds, or any other kind of nut besides peanuts

Olive oil, probably 1/3 cup or so

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Method:

This makes about 1.5 cups of pesto.

Put everything but the olive oil and salt in a food processor.

Drizzle about 2 tbsp olive oil on top.

Process until pesto-like.

Scrap down the sides, and add more olive oil if necessary, and process again.

You are looking for a pesto-like consistency - some like it more liquidy than others, so the amount of olive oil used is up to you.

Taste it.  If it isn't salty enough, add some salt.  Beet greens are naturally salty, so you might find you don't need any more salt.

This pesto makes a great cracker topping, and is delicious added to mashed potatoes.

It doesn't taste like beets, so if you cry at the thought of eating beets, be quiet and eat this.

Beet Greens Aioli

Ingredients:

Beet greens pesto

Mayo

Method:

Combine equal parts beet greens pesto and mayo.

Spread on anything you'd put mayo on.

Makes a good dip too.

Cinchy Roasted Beets

Ingredients:

One bunch of beets, washed with stems and roots chopped off

A drizzle of olive oil (about 1 tbsp)

Salt

Pepper

Method:

Preheat toaster oven to 400.  

Cut beets into squares/wedges, about 1 inch square or so.

Put in baking dish.

Drizzle with olive oil, and add a bit of salt and pepper.  Be careful not to add too much salt.  I'd start with four shakes, and then add more once I tasted them if necessary.

Cook for 40 minutes, until soft but not super soft.

Bike Theft Thwarted

The manager at our apartment complex, Dorris, has been on a crusade to get all the bikes that no one ever uses out of here.   There are bikes locked up along the stairs all over.  Tons of bikes.  Some people move and never take their bikes, so some are just abandoned.  Some bikes get so rusty with the salty sea air that they are unusable.  All people with a bike they actually use had to put a yellow tag on it, so Dorris would know not to get rid of it.

I tagged my bike a few weeks ago.

Yesterday, I happened upon Dorris while I was doing laundry.  She mentioned that they were getting rid of all the abandoned bikes.  I looked at my bike.  Rather, I looked at the spot where my bike used to be.

I say, "my bike is gone."  Dorris knew I had tagged it, so she starts frantically trying to find the people (scum lords) who were in charge of getting rid of (selling, hawking, trading for illegal things) the abandoned bikes.

I followed Dorris to the other side of the complex, and luckily we found the truck with the bikes on it.  Dorris said, "that's her bike!"  The guy on the truck said, "which one?"  Dorris said, "the one with the yellow tag on it!"  Morons.

So, they got my bike off the truck and Dorris got pissed at the woman (scum) who was in charge of the bike round up.  The woman (scum) insisted she TRIPLE checked to make sure she wasn't taking any bikes that belonged to people.  Somehow, my bike, with the yellow tag, got taken anyway.  Strange.  My bike was three minutes away from being taken to who knows where, never to be seen again.  I had already decided I was going to demand $450 if it was gone.

Then, I told the woman (scum) that I wanted my cable back because it was a $45 cable.  She told me she would give me a new one that was worth "way, way more" than that.  Dorris said I'd have to approve whatever cable she gave me, or else she'd have to buy me a new one.  Dorris told her I am an attorney.  The woman (scum) said she was sorry, and I said it was okay.  Anyone else, my old man included, would have made her regret the day she even thought about loading my bike on that truck.  She's lucky it was me.

Later that day, when I went to get my dry clothes, I saw my cable slung over a couple of beach cruisers that the woman (scum) had claimed as her own, as they had been abandoned by others.  It wasn't locked up.  So, I took back my cable.  I wonder if she was going to give me my own cable and then say that it was worth "way, way more" than it was?

She was supposed to give me my new cable and lock last night, but never did.  Surprise, surprise.  This is what happens when you send a scum bag to do an idiot's job.