Simple Gifts: Beet Caraway Slaw

This recipe is ridiculously simple. I had beet stems leftover from buying beets in November. Instead of chewing through them raw or using them in juice, I decided to tenderize them in a quick “refrigerator pickle” with sauerkraut.  For fun, I threw in some raw apple cider vinegar, caraway seeds, and German mustard.  So that the beets and acidic juices wouldn’t turn a container pink, I used a glass container.  I stuck it in the back of the fridge and forgot about it for a few hours. When I took it out, the beet stems had become slightly less chewy and the sour, salty sauerkraut had balanced their natural sweetness.  Success! Similarly, I made stinky raw daikon more palatable by grating it on a mandolin cutter and combining it with sweet crushed pineapple for a slaw of sorts. Then I ran these recipes together and made daikon kraut slaw.

I had a bit of an epiphany today…I expected to recover too quickly from two sleepless, exercise-less, crazy eating patterned weeks.  I’m young, but I’m not that young that I recover overnight. 

So I am still taking it slow and not apologising for it. If you’ve emailed me, I’ll get to you eventually.  

Taking my time to adjust to being a student and a part-time worker again is like the time-space equivalent of when I put an object I’m not sure I want to continue to own in a box (or my grandparents’ basement) for six months.  Six months later I evaluate whether or not I still want it in my life. Such thinking is how I’ve cleared out quite a bit of stuff from school, physical and mental. Time to do it again post-fellowship. I mean, ante-real life.  Framing, naming, shaming…jeez, I better not go down that path.

Kraut Slaw

Beet stems from 1 bunch of beets, chopped into 1-inch chunks

2 tablespoons caraway seeds

a few tablespoons German mustard (optional)

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup organic/artisan sauerkraut, briefly rinsed

Mix in a glass container and let marinate in the back of the fridge for four hours before serving.

Daikon Slaw

2 or 3 organic daikon roots, washed and leaves removed

1 16-ounce can crushed pineapple

1/2 cup craisins

a few tablespoons German mustard

turmeric

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup carrots

Shred the carrots and daikon on a mandolin into desired shapes.  Combine everything in a glass container and let sit overnight before serving.

Merging these two recipes is even better for Daikon-kraut slaw.

I think it was in Gwen Shamblin’s Weigh Down Diet that I read for my junior paper that Shamblin said something to the effect of if you think something is a sign from God, it probably is. As I was chopping dinosaur kale today, I sliced the tip of my left index finger and some of the nail. I get it, Great Creator; I will slow down before I hurt myself any more!  Chill out with me and we’ll make some more simple, slow recipes.