Marinated Beet Salad with Dill

Beets are a fantastic food for the liver. Eating beets promotes the flow of bile, which is the fluid that carries out the toxins that have been processed through the liver. Bile also helps us digest fats better, and for many people will promote healthy, complete elimination. If you haven’t eaten beets before, don’t worry if your urine looks pinkish or if your stool looks magenta! The dark purple pigments of beets pass through us relatively unchanged!

For this recipe you will need 10 medium sized beets. This will make a big batch, but can keep in the fridge for quite a while and can be added as a side to almost any meal. Try to get beets that are all more or less the same size so they cook at the same rate. Avoid very large beets: they often have a woody centre.

We find the best way to keep all of those purple pigments inside the beets while cooking is to roast them. When beets are boiled, a lot of the powerful nutrients go down the drain with the cooking water.

Ingredients:

• 10 medium beets

• 1 onion, thinly sliced

• Handful of dill, chopped

Directions:

1. Spool out a large piece of tin foil that is large enough to make a sealed packet that will accommodate all your beets. Fold the edges together a few times so it is well sealed. The beets will steam in their own juices while in the oven.

2. Place the packet on a cookie sheet and bake for 1 hour. The beets should be tender when poked with the tip of a knife.

3. Let the beets cool in the packet. When they are cool enough to handle, the peels should come off very easily. Wear gloves to peel them: beets can really stain your hands!

4. Cut up your beets into slices or cubes.

5. Add 1 thinly sliced onion and a big handful of chopped dill.

6. Pour over a simple dressing of 5 tablespoons olive oil, 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste

7. Keep your marinated beets in a covered bowl or a mason jar and shake well before serving.