Poll: Are there foods that intimidate you?

Oooo, you sound like my sister!  I love those things, but she hates everything about them from their smell to their color.  I do feel like they might be staining my insides, but they do taste so good going down...  Even I have a hard time believing that color is natural  and not Red Dye No. 3 or some such thing.

Please please please tell me that you both have tried fresh beets.
They're just as red and vibrant and juicy as the canned ones, but their flavor is so much better.

And as soon as you slice into a raw, fresh beet, you know there's no red dye no2 in there. ;) It'll stain you up just like food coloring, but it's aaalllll natural, baby. In fact, a lot of people (especially vegans or those who keep kosher) use fresh beet juice (real juice, not the red water in the can) to color red velvet cake instead of food coloring, since red food coloring is made from crushed carmine beetles.

Roasted, boiled, pickled, whatever. Fresh is the best, and they are sooo good.

Yes, you are definitely correct.  Fresh beets are wonderful.  I love them simply boiled with a little butter and salt.  I hate preparing them, but it's worth it.

 Omg, I love beets. LOVE them. And they're totally naturally colored!! :D  Some of the most healhy and gorgeous things in nature are that color--beets, pomegranates, rhubarb, swiss chard, raspberries, mmm. Makin' myself hungry. :)

My favorite way to make them is to peel the raw beets, chunk them up, and lay them on a cookie sheet with similarly chopped sweet potatoes and chopped yellow vidalia onion. Brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast until tender. Omg, SO good. 

Spagetti Squash.  I have no idea.

There is a mantra you should learn:

"If I can think it...it's probably on Bariatric Foodie..." LOL! A tutorial on spaghetti squash.

http://bariatricfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-to-make-spag hetti-squash.html

It's delicious and so easy.  I cook mine in the microwave add a little butter, salt and pepper and such it as pasta or eat it like that.

LOL about the kale. My surgeon adores it and apparently even grows it in his yard! Never had it though. Maybe sauteed like spinach or baked in a quiche (with low carb crust, of course)?

 We eat a lot of kale. I cook it in a pressure cooker with indian spices/curry. It's so easy and tastes great.
Deb T.

mmm...Kale is a pretty hearty green. It's not like spinach in that it doesn't soften as easily. You really do have to boil the heck out of it to get it to a chewable texture. It's "ruffly" (for lack of a better adjective...literally think of ruffles on a man's lapel and that's what kale is like). Sauteeing it will soften it but not to the point where I think it'd be a good idea to include it in a quiche.

Kale chips are popular for that very reason. Kale stands up well to heat and is hardy even after releasing some of its water content so it turns into a crispy chip. I've tried them before (yummy with just a bit of olive oil and salt) but never made them myself.