This divine dish

Was borne out of the need for something quick after having let myself dive way too deep into hunger. My body was craving minerals and a mild tasting, comforting dish.

Luckily I had a big batch of millet soaking, and though I couldn’t be bothered with cooking the lot, I grabbed a spoonful and tossed it into the pot along with some water. Knowing that thinly sliced sweet potato would cook in minutes, I got that done in jiffy, and couldn’t help but notice the beets sitting at the bottom of my fridge. Quickly peeled and sliced one of those too.

Once I covered the pot with a lid the whole thing cooked down in just over 10 minutes. Next I mashed it all up with some butter, salt and Frontier’s outrageously delicious Berbere spice. Then tossed in some hearty baby greens and gave the whole thing a stir until they were properly wilted. To add a little extra complexity (though the Berbere offers quite a bit), I garnished with some fresh dried oregano and a dollop of my Mint Yogurt Dressing.

I couldn’t have been more pleased. The dish was rich in flavor, yet mild enough to satisfy that comfort food craving. There was just enough for dinner the following night, which I had alongside a simple lamb chop–a perfect pairing!

Be sure to take a look

At my Basic Millet recipe for the scoop on soaking and the incredible health benefits of this wonderful grain. You can also try this recipe with already cooked millet. Simply stew the veggies in a little water, and combine with cooked millet at the same point as you’d add butter and seasoning.

Those gorgeous hues mean good health too

The blood red color found in beets is the result of a class of phytonutrients called betalains. These compounds are a boon for your body. They:

• tone your blood
• reduce stress in your body
• provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and detoxification support

Betalains are lost when heated for prolonged periods, but fortunately with this method of cooking you’re heating the beet for a minimum. Fingers crossed there were still plenty of betalains in my bowl! Aside from that, beets are full of many other minerals and nutrients, such as: folate, manganese, potassium, copper, magnesium, Vitamin C, Iron and fiber.

Sweet potatoes are packed with minerals and antioxidants 

The bright orange color of the most common varieties of sweet potato is an indicator of beta-carotene. There’s more Vitamin A in the orange variety of sweet potato than in almost any other single food. Just one sweet potato can supply you with 35-90% of your daily needs.

You’ll also get a good dose of Vitamin C, manganese, copper, pantothenic acid, vitamin B6, biotin, potassium, B’s 1,2+3, phosphorus and more. If you happen upon the purple variety of sweet potato you’ll benefit from another type of antioxidant. The purple pigmented tubers are rich in cyanidins and peonidins which help to reduce common toxin loads of heavy metals and oxygen radicals. Incredible right?

As if it wasn’t enough that sweet potatoes are so incredibly delicious, now that you know how superbly nutritious they are, I hope you’ll eat them often in this dish or otherwise! Whatever you do, eat them with butter. Studies show that the inclusion of fat is necessary to dramatically increase the uptake of Vitamin A, along with other nutrients. It’s a fact: butter must be had.