Everyone has a favourite colour. Or two. According to modern psychology, favourite colours have a lot to say about our personalities. As example, those who love:
- Red – are confident, fun-loving, adventurous, bossy, perfectionist
- Navy – are traditional, reserved, strong convictions, faithful
- Yellow – are logical, energetic, business-minded, imaginative
- Green – are gentle, honest, gullible, peace-maker
- Pink – are passionate, playful, seek protection and crave attention
- Purple – are artistic, generous, demanding, temperamental
……and so on.
Since my tastes lean towards more neutral colours – brown, moss green, and when I’m feeling it, peacock blue – psychologists might say that I’m somewhat confused. Like a good game of Apples to Apples, these colours suggest that I am:
- decisive
- with strong beliefs
- love adventure
- inflexible
- patient
- difficult to figure out
- compassionate
- comfortable with who I am
- and don’t take things personally
Hmm…. Interesting.
My grandmother had a favourite colour — we always called it “beet pickle red”. Something of a magenta with a touch of fig and fucia. You know, the exact colour of beet pickle juice.
Grandma was strong, independent, hard-working, frugal, and obstinate. She needed to be! Leaving Sweden as a young woman alone, not knowing English, quite vision-impaired, and with only a basic education, she needed to rely on all of those characteristics in order to survive immigration.
And then she had to survive raising 3 boys basically alone, since Grandpa travelled a lot for his job! Obstinance is a pretty good quality to have in that case.
One thing that Grandma served at basically every meal —- you guessed it —- beet pickles!
It took me a long time to begin liking beets, but a “beets and berries” smoothie has become a standard breakfast for me, and roasted beets aren’t so bad when mixed into a steak salad. Then I decided to try making beet pesto. Yikes!
Regular green (basil-based) pesto on pasta kind of makes me cringe. It’s delicious, but weird looking. Beet pesto is neon pink. If you are cooking for a Disney princess, or for a crazy-fun party, you might enjoy neon pasta. But golden beets aren’t quite as jarring. In fact, the pesto is almost bland in appearance. But the flavour makes up for its lack of eye-candy properties.
This is a good side dish. It compliments basically any kind of entrée, and adds nice nutrition and texture to the meal. I used my little Ninja single-serve cup to make the pesto, but a food processor would probably be better. I just like the convenience of a small cup for cleanup.
Peel and boil the beets until fork-tender.
Pulse minced garlic and almonds in blender or food processor until fine.
Add cooked beets, vinegar, and oil, and process until smooth.
Then salt and pepper pepper to taste, and grated parmesan cheese.
Serve over pasta. Since beets and sage are such good pals, toss in some ribbons of sage before serving.
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Golden Beet Pesto
Description
A simple side dish to complement chicken, beef, or pork
Ingredients
- 2 medium sized beets, peeled and diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/3 cup slivered almonds
- 1/3 c olive oil
- 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
- 1/3 c grated parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Boil beets in a small saucepan until fork-tender
- Pulse minced garlic and slivered almonds in food processor until fine
- Add boiled and drained beets and the vinegar
- Once those are well combined, add the olive oil
- Pulse in the grated parmesan cheese
- Season to taste with salt and black pepper
