Day 36: Swedish Pickled Beets ♥ (Refrigerator Pickled Beets)

One of my favorite recipes on all of A Veggie Venture, pickled beets made with canned beets. They're just delicious! Especially in summer, keep a jar of these on hand in the refrigerator, ready to add to salads at lunch, to plates at supper. They even just look pretty, all ruby-aglisten, waiting to be eaten! These are "refrigerator pickles" and keep for several weeks in the refrigerator without hauling out the home-canning gear. Great for Meal Prep. Weight Watchers Friendly & Freestyle Friendly. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real. Naturally Gluten Free.

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Since first making Swedish Pickled Beets back in 2005, I keep a big jar in the refrigerator nearly all the time. It's just so convenient to grab one or two small beets for a quick salad or a vegetable snack. Plus I've become a huge fan of beets, this might have been the first recipe to turn me into the "beet queen"!

Mostly, my beet recipes start with fresh beets so it's nice to have even one good recipe for something so easy and so convenient and, let's not forget, so good. I've never made Swedish Pickled Beets with fresh beets, I almost don't want to. Chances are, they'd be awesome – they'd be "fresh" beets after all – but I so love the convenience of using canned beets, just once! For the last while, I've been serving beets at family potlucks where they're a huge hit. I just cut the beets into bite-size chunks and then toss with a little fresh mint. Swedish Beets for a crowd!

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SWEDISH PICKLED BEETS

Hands-on time: 7 minutes
Time to table: 24 hours
Makes 8 cups

1 cup apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspooons table salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 or 5 15-ounce cans beets, preferably chunks or small beets, drained (see ALANNA's TIPS)

OPTIONAL (see TIPS)
1 cinnamon stick
5 cloves allspice

Mix the vinegar, water, sugar, salt and pepper in a large saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to lift the sugar and salt from the bottom so they'll dissolve. Meanwhile, put the drained beets in a large glass (see TIPS) container with a cover. When liquid boils, remove from the heat and pour it over beets. REFRIGERATE 24 HOURS BEFORE SERVING.

ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
I suspect the beets will absorb liquid better when in irregular chunks since beet slices tend to stick together. Del Monte sells a "chunk" product but if you can't find it or something similar, consider chopping the slices into irregular pieces. I'm more than happy with the price and quality of the house-brand canned beets from Schnucks, the largest grocery chain in St. Louis. They are small and of excellent quality.
Beet juice stains so glass is preferable. Plus, it looks so pretty in the fridge!
My container actually holds five cans of beets – and since they keep a long time, I'm happy to have more on hand. For the first few days, however, I turn the jar upside down so the beets on top get "pickled".
A commenter suggested adding a cinnamon stick and some allspice – and so I tried that. This adds a spice dimension that's similar to commercial pickled beets. I "like" it but find the spices a bit much.

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per 1/2-cup Serving: 40 Calories; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 9 g Carb; 2 g Fiber; 16 mg Calcium; 2 mg Iron; 280 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; 1 g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS Old Points 0 & PointsPlus 1 & SmartPoints 2 & Freestyle 0

TODAY'S VEGETABLE RECIPE INSPIRATION Adapted from a 1964 issue of House & Garden, found on Epicurious.

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MORE FAVORITE BEET RECIPES

~ My Favorite Way to Roast Beets ~
~ Red Onion Beets ~
~ How to Make a Roasted Beet Salad ~
~ Beet Pesto ~
~ more beet recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ Karelian Borscht (Russian Beet Borscht Soup) ~
~ Those Pink Potatoes ~
~ Borscht Beets with Sour Cream ~
~ more beet recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade

SEASONAL EATING: THIS SAME WEEK ACROSS THE YEARS

Leeks & Asparagus Poke Sallet Mashed Rutabagas & Apple Summer Vegetable Stew (< Pinterest loves it!) Swedish Beets (< a kitchen staple) Broccoli with Rice Wine & Oyster Sauce Tuscan Bean Salad Beet Carpaccio Golden Beets with Brussels Sprouts Homemade Thousand Island Dressing (< so so good!) Bubble & Squeak Baba Ganoush (Middle Eastern Eggplant Spread) Party Asparagus with Aioli (< this week's favorite!) Asparagus Risotto Strawberry Rhubarb Smoothie Miss Jennie's Famous Benedictine Spread Greek Spinach-Asparagus-Potato Gratin (Spinaki me Sparaggia Orgraten) (< so impressive looking) Paleo Carrot Soup Simple Zucchini Ribbon Salad Celery & Chickpea Salad

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the
famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

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