Beets and Leeks and Beans Oh My!

I have been having some issues with my roommates and the fact that two of them (not my roommate Elsa) but the others, their lack of care for the lack of toilet paper, and the quickly accumulating dirty dishes. After a long and stressful day, seeing no toilet paper in the bathroom again after about a week and a half of promising ourselves (Elsa and I) that we would not buy toilet paper AGAIN since it is their turn, I found myself at the grocery store trying to decide between two ply or three! It felt wrong and incredibly annoying. SO I figured that tonight would be a night for a culinary challenge that would both calm me and energize me.

Tonight was the night that I decided to cook Beets!

Which proved to both calm me and energize me like I had hoped! Now I have been having misgivings about cooking them because they simply take FOREVER! and also they stain everything, and without a washer or dryer and only my brothers who live an hour away to help me with my laundry woes, it becomes more of a life choice than simply a dinner choice! :)

Anyhow, I braved it tonight, along with my wonderful roommates boiled Leeks, and let me tell you, I feel absolutely ridiculous for not attempting them sooner!! The way I would normally think to cook beets is to boil them for 5 million years in boiling, salty water until they are fork tender. However, Victoria informed me that I should bake them in my miracle Toaster oven wrapped in tin foil and with Olive oil, Salt and Pepper.

I followed her directions to a T, well, almost - Since moving to Israel the pounds have seemed to have packed on, so I followed her directions sans the Olive Oil. They took FOREVER as I thought they would but it was worth it - the tin foil kept them amazingly moist and the skin was super easy to peal off, and they were perfectly tender. And as it turns out, the lack of Olive Oil did not leave me wanting, which was a pleasant surprise.

I paired them with my roommate Elsa's boiled leeks,

which sounds strange perhaps but they are divine - soft, slightly oniony but also mild in the best way. Along with black beans, yellow tomatoes, orange peppers, fresh leaves of cilantro and basil and my beets of course, I made a great salad with just a simple dressing of olive oil, Balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper!!

While this may not seem like a culinary feat, the successful cooking of the beets in the toaster oven truly feels like a great success!! And just another reason for why this oven has changed my life only for the better :)