Summer is just a Peach (or maybe 14 or 15 of them...)

 We had a large gathering of many of the Longsworth clan over at my house this past weekend. In my childhood one of the many things I can remember about visiting the Longsworth house in the summer was all the fresh seasonal fruit that was always available. Blackberries, Peaches, Blueberries, and many more. we had fruit with ice cream, fruit pies, and most importantly, fruit cobblers!!! 

Cobbler is like sweat bread or scones, mixed with the best fresh fruit. how can one go wrong with that!

So for this gathering I decided to make a Peach Cobbler. Mine was a bit runny since I omitted alot of the Sugar and Flour, so my recommendation is NOT to reduce the amounts on this recipe by too much or you will have basically just fruits and bread (equally as delicious, but not quite a cobbler...).

also note, if you want to make more dumplings for the top, by all means go for it! I personally like my cobbler covered with dumplings, but that is not how I made them this time. The dumplings in the picture are not cooked yet, but once they are cooked they don't expand or anything, they just brown a bit.

Peach Cobbler

Ingredients:

12-15 FRESH Peaches, peeled and thinly sliced

¼ to 1/3 c. Sugar (depends on how sweet you want it)

1/3 c. Flour

4 Tbsp Butter

 

3 1/3 c. Bisquick mix (to make at least 20 dumplings) (you could use Jiffy, but it is not soy free)

15 Tbsp (a little less than 1 c.) Milk

Cinnamon to taste (optional)

Process

Preheat oven to 350 F

Slice the peaches into an ungreased 9x13 baking pan

Sprinkle Sugar evenly over surface

Cut Butter into slices and place ontop of Peaches at even intervals

Sprinkle Flour evenly on top

For Dumplings, mix the Milk and Bisquick into a soft dough and drop in 20 Dumplings evenly over the top of the cobbler

Bake at 350 F uncovered for about 20 minutes or until Dumplings are golden brown on top

Dessert 'Snails': What to do with too much leftover Pie Crust

These are a dish I remember from my childhood. When my mom would make pies (particularly the kind with only a bottom crust) she would occasionally have not quite enough extra dough to make another crust, but just enough extra dough to use for something else. This invention we dubber 'Snails'. We would literally sit in front of the toaster and watch these babies cook, drooling more and more as their smell wafted out around us. I think that perhaps it was through the smell that we actually figured out when they were sufficiently cooked, we just knew what they were 'supposed' to smell like to get that perfect golden and flakey texture without going over to the browning or blackened burn. This is a simple and YUMMY way to use that extra crust and they are really fun to make for kids. After all, who doesn't want to brag that their kid eats snails willingly right?

Dessert Snails

Ingredients

Pie crust

-          3 c. Flour plus 2 Tbsp

-          1 c. cold Butter (2 sticks)

-          1 tsp Salt

     Up to ¼ c. ice cold water (only  enough to make a dough)

Some very soft Butter

Cinnamon

Brown Sugar

Process

-          To make the crust: Combine flour and salt in a bowl, cut butter into manageable chunks and use a fork to smash and work it into the flour until you have a crumbly dough with no large butter lumps. Then, add the ice water a little bit at a time, just until the dough comes together (it will still be very crumbly) you probably won’t need the full ¼ cup of water to achieve this.

-          Roll out the crust into a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick (about the same as you would for any pie you were making)

-          Spread enough soft butter over the dough that the sugar will have enough to stick to

-          Sprinkle the buttery dough with brown sugar, enough to coat it well

-          Sprinkle with desired amount of Cinnamon

-          Roll the dough into a roll (similar technique to cinnamon rolls) and cut into circular pieces about 1 inch high

-          Place on well greased baking sheet and bake in preheated oven at 400 F for 8-10 minutes or until very slightly golden.

-          Cool and serve!

      Notes

     Obviously if you already have a crust from a pie, just roll it into a ball again and roll it out to make it flat, then begin with the cinnamon and sugar etc.

     Also, if you don't want the extra step of making them into spirals, just cooking the dough as a flat sheet with the sugar and cinnamon on top works as well (this version is similar to 'elephant ears')

Cold Sweet Potato Salad

I love sweet potatoes. I LOVE them. more than pumpkin, more than butternut squash, more than most other vegetables I believe. I recently discovered that unfortunately, sweet potatoes are not much better for you than regular potatoes, particularly once peeled...but they are still a bit better and they taste amazing. I think orange veggies in general are my top choice, but these delectable yammy things are definitely the best.

Since it has been super hot recently, I have been looking for ways to prepare things with minimal oven/stove usage. Hence, cold soups, salads, slaws, etc. In my journey to Australia one of the actually good things the cafeteria served (on rare occasions) was a cold sweet potato salad. Fairly simple in ingredients, i never procured a specific recipe, but I ate it enough to make some educated guesses as to the ingredients, and looking online for other sweet potato salad recipes I was able to come up with a cold salad that satisfied my tastebuds to the max.

Here is the recipe, I hope it is as enjoyable to others as it was for me! One note, I am picky and for me the consistency of the sweet potato needs to be good: baked enough that it is not crunchy, but also not mushy either, to really set of this dish well. But if that doesn't matter to you, it really doesn't effect the flavor in the slightest.

Cold Sweet Potato Salad

Ingredients

3 med. or lg. Sweet Potatoes

4 c. Baby Arugula

2 Tbsp Rosemary

2 tsp Parsley

1 Roasted Red Pepper, chopped

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

¼ of a lg. Red Onion (about ½ cup chopped)

2 Tbsp of the Roasted Red Pepper Juice (if it came from a jar) or 2 extra Tbsp Olive Oil

3 Tbsp Lime Juice or Lemon Juice

Salt and Pepper to taste

Process

-          Preheat oven to 400 F, cube the sweet potatoes in 1 inch pieces, place on greased baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or so, until softened and not crunchy, but not mushable either (should still hold their shape when forked). Allow to cool

-         
       Mix the Arugula, Rosemary, Red Pepper, Olive Oil, and Onion in a large bowl

-          Add the Sweet Potato, remaining Olive Oil/Red Pepper juice, Lime/Lemon Juice, Salt and Pepper. Mix well

-          Refrigerate until ready to serve!

Notes

-          Might also be good with a tad of mint instead of the Parsley.

Soy Free Stirfry 'Soy' Sauce that actually tastes very similar to regular Stirfry Sauce. Best use for Vegemite

Remember all that Vegemite you brought back from Australia? That weird tasting, yeasty, salty, brown stuff? Well I have stumbled upon what is possibly the best use for Vegemite ever!

My sister is allergic to all things Soy. This means (of course) that Soy-Sauce is absolutely out of the question. The severe drawback of this is it pretty much cuts out any sort of stir-fry type foods. We have tried making them with other sauce alternatives, but have not found them to be even remotely close in yummy-ness to Soy Sauce sauces.

SOLUTION! VEGEMITE! Upon my return from Australia I brought back with me several packets of this stuff for various relatives and friends to try (since Vegemite is totally and completely an Australian experience...whether or not it is a good tasting experience depends on the person). However, I brought way too much, so we have been trying to find some sort of use for it. Well, its salty, and brown, so, let us try it as a Soy-Sauce substitute.

YES! THIS WORKS!!!! Thus! Here is my Soy-Free Stir Fry Sauce recipe, it is not exactly the same of course but it is pretty darn close to any old regular stirfry sauce in terms of flavor. We will be having it much more often, Vegemite...who knew!!

The amounts are approximate, since we have only made this once it is still a work in progress, but it is close! just a bit of playing around with these amounts should produce a Soy-Free Sauce worth repeating!

No-Soy StirFry Sauce

Ingredients

2 Tbsp Vegemite

½ c. Water

1 ½ Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

3 Tbsp Rice Vinegar

1 ½ Tbsp Sesame Oil

1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

¼ c. Ginger, finely chopped

Process

-           In a jar put Vegemite, Water, Worcestershire, and Balsamic. Shake well and refrigerate until ready for use

-          When ready to add sauce to Stirfry veggies, add to jar the Rice Vinegar, Sesame Oil,  Apple Cider Vinegar, and Ginger. Shake well and pour over Stirfry!

Notes

You could probably mix everything but the ginger in the jar ahead of time and add the ginger when you cook. But this way works well!

also, the ginger is ESSENTIAL. it with the Vegemite is what makes the sauce taste like a soy-sauce mix

Basil Parmesan African Bread

Going again into the African Cookbook I checked out of the Library, I needed to use a recipe for bread that would go well with my Cool Cucumber Soup. I chose the Basil Parmesan as a complement, and it turned out to work well together.

This bread is fairly dense, and my loaf was perhaps a bit dry, but when used with the soup it gave a nice cheesy and onion accent to the simple flavors. This bread tastes a little like an everything bagel with cheese, my Mom found it was good as toast with a bit of roasted tomato on top, and, if sliced thin enough it is a great grilled cheese bread.

Lastly, though we did not try this, I think it would do really well as a garlic bread with tomato spaghetti. Perhaps not the best on its own due to the slightly dry nature of it (I am not enough of a bread person to know how to fix this yet, I am working on it), it is certainly a good complement to many summery dishes.

Basil and Parmesan Bread

Ingredients

½ c. Milk

2 Tbsp Butter

2 ½ c. Bread Flour

1 envelope (or 2 ½ tsp) active dried Yeast

½ Tbsp Sugar

½ tsp Salt

1 Egg, lightly beaten to break the yolk and blend

1 c. Parmesan Cheese, grated

8 Scallions, sliced

1 tsp crushed Garlic (about 2 cloves)

12-15 Basil leaves

Process

-          Heat the Milk with half the Butter just so the butter melts into the milk, DO NOT BOIL. Set aside to cool lukewarm

-          Combine the Flour, Yeast, Sugar and Salt in a large bowl and make a well in the center

-          Add the lukewarm milk mixture, Egg and Parmesan Cheese to the Flour mix and mix together to make a soft dough. If the dough doesn’t come together enough (is too dry) add splashes of milk as you knead in the bowl until it comes together

-          Knead for a few minutes on a well floured surface until the dough is smooth and elastic

-          Shape into a ball and place in a greased bowl, cover with greased wax paper in a warm dry place and leave to rise for 1 to 1 ½ hours or until doubled in size.

-          While the dough is rising, sautee the Scallions and Garlic with the rest of the Butter until the onions are slightly colored. Remove from heat

-          Chop the Basil into small pieces and add to Scallions, allow this to cool.

-          Once dough is risen, punch it, and knead into the Scallion mixture until mix is fully stuck to the dough.

-          Shape into a loaf and place it in a greased loaf pan covering with the wax paper and leaving to double again (about 30 minutes)

-          Bake in preheated oven at 350 for 35-50 minutes or until crusty and golden on the outside. When tapped it should sound hollow

Cool enough that it sets well and serve either slightly warm right away or wait and serve cold. We had it the next day with a cool cucumber and parsley soup and it was absolutely scrumptious!

            Recipe Source: the African Kitchen by Josie Stow and Jan Baldwin

Cool Cucumber Soup

It has been HOT, broiling at around 100 degrees for the past three days, and humid to boot, I wanted to use the oven and stove as very very little as possible to avoid heating up the house.

On a camping trip at Indiana Dunes with a friend we looked through some Real Simple magazines and saw a Cool Cucumber Soup. Perfect! simple, cold, filling, and cucumbers are in season! The recipe below is a variation on that recipe we found and it is certainly very good! Simple flavors make this soup perfect for an icy meal on a hot day. We combined it with a Basil and Parmesan bread for a perfectly good quick and easy summer dinner.

Cool Cucumber Soup

Ingredients

3 med. to lg. Cucumbers, roughly chopped

1 c. Yogurt

1/3 c. combination of fresh Mint, Parsley, and Basil leaves, roughly chopped

1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1 tsp Salt

A pinch of Cayenne pepper

Process

-          Blend all ingredients in a blender or food processor until totally smooth

-          Refrigerate until very cold, then serve! 

      Makes enough for 3 good sized servings

Notes

Sour Cream or Cottage Cheese can be substituted for the Yogurt if you want a slightly thicker consistency

I recommend serving with some sort of bread (we used African Basil and Parmesan Bread)

Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

The Star of the show

I found a blog called the Brown Eyed Baker that I really enjoyed alot of the recipes I found. Dying to try something and having a serious craving for pumpkin (I know it is not autumn yet but I could not wait), I saw the recipe for Whoopie Pies as intriguing and wanted to experiment. I found that due to the humidity in Ohio the pies/cookies turned out a little gummy on the outside and plenty dense on the inside once they are not fresh out of the oven. But running them through a toaster for a couple brief minutes gets rid of this problem quite nicely, though they cannot have frosting on them if you put them in the toaster as the frosting will obviously melt off...

I was alone in the house and I had a cracking good time making them while singing along at the top of my lungs to musicals such as Phantom of the Opera, the Music Man, and the Sound of Music. Even if one is not singing rather poorly to one's dog, these cookies are as much fun to eat while you are making them as they are afterwards! (yes they have raw egg, so one has to be careful). I had a 29 oz can of Pumpkin, which is about a half cup more than the recipe calls for...but somehow I ended up with an empty can of pumpkin! (hint, I did not use extra in the cookies...pumpkin is just that yummy...). and Cream Cheese Frosting? Really? I mean, one almost has to double the recipe just to get enough leftover to put on the cookies! However, enough of the ingredients made it into the oven and into the frosting that I actually had some to serve to my family. The verdict was, a little gummy, with some odd texture, but VERY good flavor and the icing one really cannot go wrong with. So, in conclusion, while this is a good idea, perhaps if one is looking for a pumpkin cookie that is more like a cookie and less like a cake, one needs to look elsewhere. Or, use a toaster later, really they tasted great.


Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Frosting

For the Whoopie Pies:

3 c. Flour
2 Tbsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Salt
1 tsp ground Ginger
½ tsp ground Nutmeg
2 c. Brown Sugar
1 c. Canola Oil (or use half applesauce, but add a little sugar if using green applesauce)

3 c. chilled Pumpkin puree (canned pumpkin)
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

4 cups Powdered Sugar
12 ounces Cream Cheese, at room temperature
3 ounces (½ cup) unsalted Butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons Maple Syrup (optional, but add a little powdered sugar if you use this)
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

Process

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, grease and flour baking sheets

In a large bowl, whisk together the Flour, Cinnamon, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Salt, Ginger and Nutmeg. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk the Brown Sugar, and the Oil/Applesauce together.

Add the Pumpkin puree and whisk to combine thoroughly. Add the Eggs and Vanilla and whisk until combined.

Gradually add the Flour mixture to the Pumpkin mixture and whisk until completely combined.

Use a large spoon to drop a rounded, heaping tablespoon of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, making sure that the cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. The cookies should be firm when touched. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on a cooling rack.

To make the Frosting, beat the Butter until smooth with no visible lumps.

Add the Cream Cheese and beat until smooth and combined.

Add the Powdered Sugar a little at a time until desired consistency, then add the Maple Syrup (if using) and Vanilla and beat until smooth.

To assemble them as whoopie pies: Turn half of the cooled cookies upside down. Spread some frosting onto that half. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the frosting. Press down slightly so that the frosting spreads to the edges of the cookie. Repeat until all the cookies are used. Put the whoopie pies in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to firm before serving.

I opted for the iced cookie version

Otherwise, just Frost the tops of the cookies and serve!

*Recipe Credited to Browneyedbaker, with a few of my own edits, and her source.

African Cooking

So, this week I went to the library as is custom every Friday. I always spend so much time at this lovely place, and I recently discovered the cooking section. Chock full of interesting books I picked out a few that looked try-worthy (I would have taken them all, but that was just not feasible, limited space on our shelves etc.). One of these was the African Kitchen. Designed as the journey of the authors through Africa and the various meals they had along the way this book is a fun read as well as a cookbook with phenomenal photography.

Many of the recipes looked scrumptious (green banana and lentil salad, cold apple and curry soup, and more), but I can't make them all at once, so I chose a few to try out. The first of which is Jeanette's Charkalaka. Looking up the word Charkalaka, I found it means a cabbage salad basically, sort of like a coleslaw without mayonnaise. We had all the ingredients, thus I gave it a shot.

Traditionally made for large gatherings, the ingredients are readily accessible not only in Africa, but pretty much everywhere. This recipe makes quite a bit of food and does not have too much strong flavors other than the spice and taste of the veggies themselves, so it is appealing to a wide audience perhaps.

Jeanette’s Charkalaka (Spicy Cabbage Salad)

Ingredients

1 Onion, sliced

2 Garlic cloves, crushed

1-2 Chili’s

some Olive Oil

1 Green Pepper, chopped

1 Red Pepper, chopped

1 Yellow Pepper, chopped

1 large Cabbage, sliced thinly

1 lb Carrots, grated

1 Tbsp Paprika

½ Tbsp Cayenne

16 oz canned or frozen Peas

Salt and Pepper to taste

Process

Sautee the Onion, Garlic, and Chili together until the onion starts to color

Add the Peppers, Cabbage, Carrots and cook for a few minutes until they start to soften

Add the spices and the Peas and cook until vegetables are a little softer 

Serve either warm or cold. Makes quite a lot of food, a half recipe would probably feed four people quite well.

Notes

 

I used this recipe from the African Kitchen by Josie Stow and Jan Baldwin. The original calls for a whole Tbsp of Cayenne, but I found that to be WAAAAAY too spicy for my taste, so, my recommendation is ½ Tbsp for those with less heat tolerance, you can always add more if it is not spicy enough, but once it is spiced you can’t really take that away!

we have also found that this is actually better served cold. It gives time for the flavors to sink in and bring each other out, as well as tempering the spicyness to a certain degree (a lesser degree..harhar)

Veggie (Vegetarian, even Vegan if wanted) Stuffed Tortillas

These are yummy. End of story, ok not quite end of story, they are also easy to make and filling and very good representational of a 'typical' Mexican dish, at least in my house.

Again, courtesy of some friends of ours in Wisconsin, this has become a regular feature at our dinner table. The recipe here is for the whole shebang, but we often just make the filling and let people design their own burritos/tortillas/whatever. Since it keeps fairly well and my family is fond of Mexican food for dinner and lunch, we also usually make a lot and don’t worry if it is not all eaten on the first night. It is even good the next day either in a tortilla or even just by itself and cold in my opinion.

Lastly, I promise, though this recipe seems long and convoluted, it is a very simple easy thing to make.

Ingredients

It tastes better than it looks

Step 1
a little Olive Oil
2 cloves Garlic minced
1 lg. Onion chopped
1 Green Pepper chopped
1 med./lg. Zucchini sliced or chunked
1/2 cup vegetable broth

Step 2
2 cups Corn
2 cups Black Beans drained

Step 3
1 1/2 Tbsp Cumin
6 Tbsp Salsa
Salt and Pepper to taste
a little Cilantro (either dried or freshly chopped)

*Step 4 (Tortillas)
a little Olive Oil
several Tortillas (can be flour, whole wheat, corn, it is up to your preference)
Chedder Cheese shredded

*This is not an essential step, if wanted one could just serve the filling with rice (see Cilantro Lime Rice recipe), or by itself, over chips, on a plain tortilla...you get the picture

Process

Filling

Sautee together all ingredients from Step 1  in a little bit of olive oil for a few minutes.

Add ingredients from Step 2. If you desire, drain the Black Beans first so that their extra liquid is not added,  if the mix looks a bit dry, add a bit of the bean water or a little more vegetable broth. DO NOT use dried Black Beans. Cook until Zucchini begins to look slightly translucent

Once mixture is cooked enough (Zucchini is soft, not crunchy at all) add ingredients from Step 3 and continue to simmer, stirring enough to keep the beans from fusing to the bottom of the pan, until there is no excess liquid remaining.

Tortillas

Fry Tortilla in a pan with a little olive oil (to keep it from sticking) until slightly crispy brown.

Add a little shredded Cheese to melt onto the Tortilla.

Remove Tortilla from pan and add 1/4-1/2 cup of the filling and some extra Cheese.

Fold tortilla over, use a toothpick to keep it folded in half if needbe.

Repeat until desired number of Tortillas are made. To keep them warm while you make each one, put on a cookie sheet in an oven on low heat.

Serve with Sour Cream, Salsa, Chips, Guacamole or whatever suits your fancy!!!

I served with leftover Chicken from a barbeque, but it is totally optional. Obviously to serve with Chicken means NOT vegetarian

*Alternatively, if you do not want to use Tortillas you can serve this with Cilantro Lime Rice, or over chips, or just plain.

Cilantro Lime Rice

A good companion to any Mexican dish, we often serve this with black beans of some sort or with Vegetarian Tortillas. Simple, easy, and delicious!

Ingredients

1 cup Long- Grain White Rice
1/4 tsp course Salt (regular is fine if you don't have course)
1/2-2/3 cup FRESH chopped Cilantro
2-3 Tbsp fresh squeezed Lime Juice (not using fresh will not taste as good)
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Garlic clove minced
Salt to taste
1/2-1 cup Pine Nuts (optional)

Process

In medium Saucepan bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. add Rice and Salt. Cover and reduce to a simmer, cooking until water is absorbed and rice is just tender (16-18 minutes).

Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Serve and Enjoy!

Carrots and Apples, two kiddy snack foods turned into a super easy, semi-sophisticated veggie dish

We all know that when we were young carrots and apples were two easy and healthy snack foods. Cut up and given to us in slices or baby size, we would eat them in order to get our five servings of fruits and veggies. Of course, there are many many ways to cook these two items, but I had never run across both of them together until I found this recipe courtesy of my Mom. It has since become one of my all time favorite vegetable dishes, AND the best part is, since both carrots and apples tend to be readily available all year round, it is not necessarily a seasonal dish (like things like squash casserole, or strawberry shortcake might be).

Ingredients

1-2 Tbsp butter

2 cups carrots, chopped in small pieces

1 granny smith, or other sour green apple

2 Tbsp parsley

1 Lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

Process

Heat butter in saucepan on medium high heat, add carrots and sautee on a fairly high temperature to start browning them.

Once carrots are nicely brown on at least one side, turn heat down to medium and cook for 5 minutes until they are a bit softer.

Add granny smith chopped into small triangles or pieces about the same size as the carrots.

Cook until the apple is mostly cooked, but not mush. About 5 minutes

Add parsley and cook only 1 minute more, just to blend the parsley into the dish

Remove from heat and add juice from 1 lemon and the salt and pepper

Serve and enjoy!!

And, life in Oberlin is as normal as can be. Laundry fresh from the line, ah summer.

Beets: Healthy, Natural, Delicious...yep they're tastey!

So, I realize that I have posted desserts...and not much in the way of healthy stuff. Well, summer is the season of fresh vegetables, of which I am almost as fond as desserts. So, the next few posts will both make up for my lack of posting recently, AND display some healthy and scrumptious recipe ideas for you!

First, BEETS!!! Now, before you skip to the next post, hear me out. A year ago, as far as I was concerned
Beets taste like dirt. End of story, or so I thought. Until last year I had never liked Beets because they tasted to me like the ground from whence they came. However, a good friend of the family introduced us to her 'summer sauteed beets'. We were skeptical to be sure, but upon tasting them we were shocked that they tasted...good! No dirt involved, they had a tangy bite to them with a zing from the hot red pepper and were flavored like a good summer veggie.

After breaking the beet barrier, I discovered that I actually do like beets ok, however they have to be good beets, getting canned or less than fresh, or over or underripe beets means they will taste like dirt, there is no way to avoid it. But get some GOOD beets and they are actually pretty good. 

So, here it is, the first (and for a while...only) way I like beets

Ingredients

4 fairly large fresh beets WITH greens
1-2 Tbsp butter
1 lime
1-2 tsp cayenne pepper, or powdered hot red pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Process

Cut the beets and their greens into small pieces, I do about Inch wedges for the beets and just small chunks for the greens

Heat butter in frying pan on medium heat until melted, it should at least cover the bottom of the pan, if it doesn't then add a bit more.

Put beet meat into pan and cook for a couple minutes

Add greens, (they will quickly wilt down) and sautee together until beets are desired level of softness (I usually like them a bit on the crunchy side) about 15 minutes, longer for softer beets, and if you really want them soft, turn down the heat and let them steam for a few minutes.

Turn off heat and remove from burner, add the juice from 1 lime and the cayenne pepper, stir well to spread that pepper all over the beets. Add salt and pepper

Serve and enjoy, really, no joke these beets are enjoyable!