Pickled Beets and Sauted Greens

I spent much of the day in the kitchen, processing beets and a variety of greens.  Of course I started in the garden, pulling and cutting, washing and sorting.  I like to keep as much of the dirt and garden waste outside the house as possible.  I wash root veggies on site and trim away unusable vegetable matter, feeding it directly to the chickens.

Once in the house, I washed and cut up all the toscano kale and mustard that I had recently harvested.  I basically blanched them.  They're now lightly cooked, with color set, and ready to be finished off with the seasoning of choice.

Next, I washed and cut up all the beet greens.  I cooked up one batch with bacon grease and caramelized sweet onions.  The second batch was cooked with vegetarians in mind, using a light olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar.  Both of these will be delicious, reheated and topped with the diner's choice of bacon crumbles, goat cheese, hard boiled eggs, chopped walnuts, and more vinegar.

After the greens were finished, I moved on to the beet roots.  I washed, then trimmed them, leaving about an inch of stem and root at either end.  Then I cooked them in three batches - one each of small, medium, large roots - in the pressure cooker.

While they were cooking I prepared the pickling liquid, leaving it simmer on top of the stove.  Once done, I peeled the beets, and depending on their size, sliced or chunked them, ready for packing into jars.  Here's my recipe for Beet Pickles, taken from the Ball Blue Book of Preserving:

Beet Pickles
Yield:  About 6 pints or 3 quarts

3 quarts beets (about 24 small)
2 cups sugar
2 sticks cinnamon
1 tablespoon whole allspice
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups water

Wash beets; drain.  Cook beets; peel.  Combine all ingredients except beets in a large saucepot.  Bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat.  Simmer 15 minutes.  Remove cinnamon sticks.  Pack beets into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace.  Ladle hot liquid over beets, leaving 1/4-inch headspace.  Remove air bubbles.  Adjust two-piece caps.  Process pints and quarts 30 minutes in a boiling-water canner.