Beet Green Saute

Pure Med's Office Manager Joanne Levesque put together this recipe from inspiration from her garden. It's also a wonderfully healthy recipe since Joanne is also a Registered Holistic Nutritionist.  Almost my entire back yard is a vegetable garden.  Actually, I do have an interlocking patio deck as well.  I have 5 vegetable beds with flagstone paths in between the beds.  It is my inspiration for many recipes, but it also helps that my husband is a chef and he turns my inspirations into delicious healthy meals. Beet seeds are actually seed pods.  When you plant one seed, you may get two or three seedlings growing out of the pod, which means that you need to thin out the seedlings to make room for the beet root to grow.  I usually wait until the beet greens are about eight inches high before I thin them.  This way I end up with enough thinnings for a few meals.  Usually served as a side dish, I wanted to create a main meal (a macro-nutrient balanced meal) out of them. Adding white kidney beans and walnuts into the mix provides protein and fat to the complex carbohydrate beets greens. Very yummy.  Hope you enjoy. - Joanne Ingredients

A salad spinner full of fresh chopped beet greens
2 or 3 garlic scapes, chopped in ½ inch pieces
¼ to ½ teaspoon of crushed chilies
¼ teaspoon of sea salt
1 ½ to 2 cups of cooked white kidney beans
½ cup chopped walnuts
2 to 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 to 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
freshly grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions

Add olive oil to a hot stir fry pan.  Add garlic scapes, chilies and salt and sauté for about 3 minutes.  Add the beet greens and stir until they are cooked, about 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the white kidney beans, walnuts and balsamic vinegar.  Heat until beans are hot.

Plate and drizzle with olive oil and top with optional parmesan cheese.