roasted beets with clementines and garlic – carrying on

Hello again. Sorry about the radio silence. Ralph and I snuck away for a couple of days for a mid winter break. It’s the first time since I started writing this blog that I consciously chose to leave my camera at home. Ralph loved being able to enjoy his meals without me having to photograph our dishes from every conceivable angle before we were able to eat. It also gave me a time to think about why I’m writing this blog. It started out as a way for me to stay connected to the girls as a nonclingy, unpathetic mother while trying to hide my separation anxiety. This week, I went back to the beginning posts and laughed as I remembered the hours I laboured over trying to figure out how to actually put a post together. Like anything, practice made the work easier. Stories flowed, the cooking was fun and the photography, well, it remains a welcomed challenge. I never had a defined plan as to what I was going to write about. I would sit down at my computer and start to type. Most of the time the food and the story belonged together but sometimes not. Sometimes I just had a story to tell…

My separation angst hasn’t gotten any better. It is what it is. No amount of reminiscing is going to change the fact that my daughters live in other time zones. Since I started my blog, the girls have put restrictions on what I can and can’t write about. ‘Some things are family private’. I get that. And so, after a week of weighing the pros and cons of whether or not I would continue to write this blog – mostly because of the time commitment – I’ve decided to carry on. I will honor the girl’s request to be sensitive to their privacy, no matter how adorable I think a story might be.

The truth is my blog has become something more to me than a web based storyboard and recipe box. It’s  become a discipline for self growth. I see the world from a new and generous perspective largely due to the discoveries I’m making through social media. That alone compels me to want to continue. So, I will.

When I saw these beets at the supermarket yesterday I thought they needed a good roasting so into the oven they went along with some garlic and clemetines. They are delicious hot, room temperature or cold. I’m serving them tonight with roast chicken. A perfect snowy Sunday night dinner!

Roasted Beets with Clementine and Garlic

Serves 4

Preheat oven 350*F

4 medium beets, scrubbed and leaves removed
3 Clementine, quartered
5 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Place a large piece of tin foil on a baking sheet
Cover the foil with a large piece of parchment paper
Add beets, 2 Clementine, garlic, salt and pepper to taste
Squeeze remaining Clementine over beets then add to the pile
Drizzle with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil
Seal package well and place in oven until beets are fork tender – up to 2 hours
Unseal carefully to release steam.
Serve hot, warm or cold.

THE LOVE: Place your oven rack in the lower third position so that the bottoms of the beets don’t scorch while waiting for the rest of the beet to cook.

printable copy

one year ago: cinnamon buns – sheer decadence 

Thanks for reading.