Eggfest Healthy: Balsamic Glazed Beets, Sweet Potatoes & Pineapple

GirlyEgg

I combined several recipes and added a couple of my own ideas and came up with this recipe! It’s a great healthy side to turkey and pork! Even if your memories of beets are those canned or pickled versions and your lip furls at the thought… Try these! I promise you’ll be pleasantly surprised… not to mention a adding a great source of calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, vitamin C, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin A and vitamin K. Now that’s healthy![p]Here's my recipe with a few variations at the end! Enjoy! (sorry for the long post!)[p]Balsamic Glazed Beets & Sweet Potatoes with Pineapple
From the Egg of GirlyEgg (a.k.a. Lynn Joseph)[p]Ingredients:
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoon (packed) golden brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
2 large red-skinned sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1 inch pieces
3 whole beets (fresh), peeled, cut into 1 inch pieces
½ Fresh Pineapple, cored and cut into 1 inch pieces[p]BGE Set-up:
Indirect - Inverted Platesetter (legs up) with grill top
Roasting Pan[p]Directions:
1. Preheat BGE to 350°F.
2. In large skillet over medium heat, bring balsamic vinegar and brown sugar to boil, stirring until the brown sugar dissolves.
3. Reduce heat and simmer until vinegar thickens slightly, about 3 minutes.
4. Add butter and salt and stir until butter melts.
5. Add beets, sweet potatoes and pineapple to skillet; toss to coat.
6. Transfer all of mixture into roasting pan.
7. Place roasting pan on BGE grill and roast for 45 minutes, stirring once or twice to “baste” the mix with the glaze.
8. Raise BGE temp to 450°F, and roast an additional 15 minutes or until beets are “tender” (but not mushy).
9. Transfer to large platter or bowl and serve. [p]Tips & Variations:
1. This recipe is great with any root vegetable (sweet potatoes, parsnips, beets, etc.) or fall “squash” (acorn, pumpkin, butternut). The key is to make sure all of the “pieces” are cut to the same size to ensure a more even cooking time for the mixture. Bigger pieces will take longer to cook than smaller ones! (Mom taught me that one!)[p]2. Root vegetables, especially beets are fairly dense and take a long time to cook! Therefore, if you’re in a hurry, you can parboil the vegetables (not the pineapple) in the microwave or on the stove-top (don’t’ forget to save the healthy “broth” for other uses!) prior to adding to the balsamic mixture… [p]3. The following are variations that I’ve tried and have friends convinced that it’s a different recipe each time![p]a. Variation: Reduce the amount of brown sugar to 1 ½ tablespoons, and add 2 tablespoons of Captain Morgan’s Rum! The glaze will not get as thick in the skillet, but will glaze nicely in the roasting pan on the egg![p]b. Variation: Instead of pineapple, try adding a ½ tablespoon more of brown sugar and about 1 cup of fresh cranberries. The cranberries will “burst” and produce a nice sweet/tangy taste with the veggies! This is the way I do it when I do this recipe with only sweet potatoes…. The red and the orange colors are spectacular![p]c. Variation: Top off the dish for serving with some toasted pecans![p]d. Variation: To serve it in a salad, omit the butter from the glaze (it will congeal), and roast as usual. Let it cool and then serve over a bed of arugula, and sprinkle the top with gorgonzola, feta or any other salty cheese…. And don’t forget those toasted pecans![p]

BENTE

GirlyEgg,
sorry i didn't get to try them but my old roomate's wife loves and i mean loves beets. so i sent it to her she was telling me the other day she wanted me to tell her something that she could do on the egg. so i will make her make them on her egg. it was great meeting you look forward to reading more from you and of course there is always next year.[p]
happy eggin
tb

QBabe

GirlyEgg,[p]This sounds FANTASTIC! Thanks for posting it. We missed Eggtoberfest this year, but I like to do healthier offerings, too. I LOVE beets, especially roasted. Thanks![p]Tonia
:~)

Poodlemom

GirlyEgg,
This is an awesome recipe!!!! Thanks so much for posting it in detail. I will definitely be trying this one out soon!!! Nice meeting you. [p]Lisa