carrots and onions and beets! Oh My!! ( spuds too )

[walkonby]

I said I would never buy a 10 lb bag of beets again after struggling to get through it the last time, but I could not resist the sale at NF. Potatoes, beets, onions and carrots ( all of them 10 lb bags ) are 3/$5.00.....( can you believe that price for spuds holly? ) and they are firm clean new potatoes too.
I got a mini workout carrying 40 lbs up the walkway and into the house....ha ha. I am planning better this time though. Going to save some beets for Borscht soup, then all the rest I am boiling up on the weekend, peeling and then freezing them whole in my giantico Ziplock bags. Same goes for all the carrots. ( I will have carrot coins at the ready! )
The onions and taters I think we will be o.k. to use as we need before they start to turn.
Anyone else crazy for these produce deals?

[blueeyetea]

I don't know about the potatoes, but you could certainly can the beets, carrots and onions. Or pickle them. You could use a pressure cooker to save time in cooking the beets; cook them at high pressure for 18 minutes, peel and all. Once cooked, the peel slides right off.

Baking or roasting the beets in oven also make a tasty beet.

[Natalka]

You are SO absolutely lucky to have these prices! When I read about them on another thread yesterday, I wasn't sure they could possibly be right.

Here, 10 lbs beets on sale $8; 10lb potatoes $6 - which used to buy 20 lbs!
At least we lucked out with onions last night, 2 lbs for $1.


WOB, I'm never boiling beets again!
When I was prepping beets for borscht last week, I roasted the beets instead of boiling - as I would usually - and it was amazing, so much more flavourful (without changing the flavour) and so much less mess! Saw it on a Martha Stewart video of her with her mom making borscht.

Wash beets and cut tops and bottoms off, then put on parchment paper-lined rectangle of foil, salt and pepper, wrap up like a packet (short sides together, fold over; other sides up, roll and pinch), and put on cookie sheet. I made two packets at a time - e.g. four large beets in one, six small in another).
Bake at 400 for an hour, or til knife tender. I then opened them to cool for an hour, then cooled before I peeled them, and cut off the harder bottom end.
Then I julienned mine for borscht - some people use the processor and shred, but I prefer solid bits - I find the shreds get mushy.

[walkonby]

I don't know about the potatoes, but you could certainly can the beets, carrots and onions. Or pickle them. You could use a pressure cooker to save time in cooking the beets; cook them at high pressure for 18 minutes, peel and all. Once cooked, the peel slides right off.

Baking or roasting the beets in oven also make a tasty beet.

The reason I hesitated even buying these was I had bought 2 small bags of beets about 3 weeks ago and pickled them all, so I have more than enough jars of that type ( the kids will not touch beets, just DH and I ) I have always boiled them ( I have a pressure cooker but it is a little hit and miss with the gauge, would hate to overcook these ) and yes the skins slip right off after I plunge them in the cold water ( sink bath ).

You are SO absolutely lucky to have these prices! When I read about them on another thread yesterday, I wasn't sure they could possibly be right.

Here, 10 lbs beets on sale $8; 10lb potatoes $6 - which used to buy 20 lbs!
At least we lucked out with onions last night, 2 lbs for $1.


WOB, I'm never boiling beets again!
When I was prepping beets for borscht last week, I roasted the beets instead of boiling - as I would usually - and it was amazing, so much more flavourful (without changing the flavour) and so much less mess! Saw it on a Martha Stewart video of her with her mom making borscht.

Wash beets and cut tops and bottoms off, then put on parchment paper-lined rectangle of foil, salt and pepper, wrap up like a packet (short sides together, fold over; other sides up, roll and pinch), and put on cookie sheet. I made two packets at a time - e.g. four large beets in one, six small in another).
Bake at 400 for an hour, or til knife tender. I then opened them to cool for an hour, then cooled before I peeled them, and cut off the harder bottom end.
Then I julienned mine for borscht - some people use the processor and shred, but I prefer solid bits - I find the shreds get mushy.

UGH!! WHY is it there always is an easier way AFTER I have done it the same way for so long??
O.K. Natalka you never steer me wrong ( Queen of the messy cabbage rolls and shipwreck recipes I now use ) so I am going to do a batch roasted that way first and see if DH thinks I should do them all like that. Thanks so much!

[Shwa Girl]

So nice to get fresh Ontari-ar-o veggies at this time of year, eh?

[coupon girl]

oh yeah walkonby I got the carrots ,and onions today so happy with that price -I cut some carrots up in the fridge for chomping on ,blanched some for the freezer-gave a few to a neighbour along with the onions

[Natalka]

WOB, I used the roasted beets both for the borscht and for beet pickles. I just made refrigerator beet pickles, a quart jar and one smaller jam jar.

Forgot to mention the best part - all the juice gets sealed in the beats after roasting like that, and very little comes off on the hands.
Plus, I did the peeling right in the packets, so just crumpled up the foil after and threw it away.

[Durham Couponer]

Can beets be dehydrated? I used to dehydrate carrots and onions before frying my machine but never tried beets (childhood ick reaction that needs to be nixed, since beets are good for you, right? Tell me yes.)

[walkonby]

Natalka when you were peeling the cooled off roasted beets do the skins slip off the same way they do after they are boiled and put into cold water bath? That is the one thing I loved about doing the beets was the skins slipped off. I wanted to start them now, but because I want this to be a " all hands on deck " sort of operation.....I have to wait till the rest are awake here......maybe late afternoon? ha ha

[Natalka]

Ah, if I had remembered to stick them in cold water right after, they probably would have. Duh to me...
Because I let them cool as is, I used a paring knife just to grab a bit of the skin on top, then pulled it off, it came off easily in strips, was not messy.

(argh, I can't believe I forgot, sheesh!)

[DC101]

Love them.. Make juice from the beets and carrots. Will throw apples in too if the price is right

[Angela273]

The prices in Sk are much more expensive than this. If we had this sale, I would buy a bag of each (except beets because dh hates them) and then dh would think I was crazy. Oh well, I bought onions in 10lb bags last fall and it worked out great.

[lecale]

.

[oscarandme]

I haven't read such an interesting beet conversation in never...love the tips and recipes. Trying to get DH to eat better and we were in line and the couple behind us at RCSS had several bags of beets and DH in his gutteral/loud voice says what's that in their basket"? I set beets ...I said you know those jars that I buy for myself and company a few times a year with those burgundy slices in pickled juice and I always serve with cheese and olives? thats' how they start out like.

Glad you got that deal and looooove that we can price match to do so. Thanks for sharing.

*Love the all hands on deck theme too to share time together and learn how to do this too. I hate it when I hear,my mom used to make the best ....and I wish I knew how...

[Durham Couponer]

I peel the beets, toss th

I get excited about these things:

Attachment 257477

Kabocha or buttercup type squashes. They are fantastic roasted, and I also curry them with yellow Thai curry paste, coconut milk, fish sauce. I add chicken thighs or pork shoulder blade, green beans into the mix sometimes. Serve with jasmine rice.

A big one can be 4 lbs and with some places offering them on "special" for $1.29, well do the math, that's a freaking $5+ squash. You want to find a Food Basics or something with a mixed squash bin at < $.49/lb and then you are only looking at $2.
.

Buttercup squash are .37/lb at EZ Fresh (Ontario) this week. Thank you for the recipe suggestions, DF is crazy about French onion soup.

I saw the giant bag of beets at NF today and l just couldn't do it. That's a huge commitment, that toddler sized sack o'beets. Bought the gigantic carrot bushel instead.