Beets and Spinach

I finally got my hands on Dreena Burton's The Everyday Vegan. With it came new ideas and new recipes. I love the idea of grating beets to put them on your salad. The sweet taste of beets reflects their high sugar content; they have the highest sugar content of all vegetables, yet are very low in calories. These colorful root vegetables contain powerful nutrient compounds that help protect against heart disease, birth defects and certain cancers, especially colon cancer.The pigment that gives beets their rich, purple-crimson color--betacyanin--is also a powerful cancer-fighting agent. Beets' potential effectiveness against colon cancer, in particular, has been demonstrated in several studies.

The pasta is Dreena's Mediterranean Pasta found in The Everyday Vegan as well. I loved the large amounts of basil and spinach in this pasta. Researchers have identified at least 13 different flavonoid compounds in spinach that function as antioxidants and as anti-cancer agents. Lutein, a carotenoid protective against eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and cataract, is found in green vegetables, especially spinach. Cooked spinach is an excellent source of iron. Although Popeye ate spinach to boost his strength, it's more important for menstruating women, who are more at risk for iron deficiency