Growing up, I was a picky eater.

A very picky eater.

A stubborn I’ll-throw-up-in-your-face-if-you-feed-me-something-I-don’t-like spoiled rotten picky eater.

Some foods I loathed are commonly detested amongst finicky kids : eggs, mushrooms, seafood, onions. But I also didn’t like strawberries. And vanilla ice cream. And chips. And french fries. And spaghetti sauce. And McDonalds. And chicken pot pie. And dill pickles. And pepperoni.

But I loooved my mom’s marinated beets!

We’d have them beets at least once a week with specific kid-friendly meals : chinese pie, salmon pie and meat pie. Back then, I’d always put rivers of Heinz ketchup on my piece of chinese/salmon/meat pie and mash it carefully with my fork until it became an unrecognizable reddish blob. I’d also leave a clean spot on my plate for my beets and made sure the beets never touched the blob.

I’m a big girl now. I eat eggs and onions and strawberries and vanilla ice cream and chips and french fries and spaghetti and chicken pot pie and pickles. But I still mind if my beets touches my food!

Yeah, I’m a big girl now. I don’t have to answer to anyone or any rules and beets don’t even make their way onto my plate anymore : they go directly from jar to mouth!

You know, I’m a big girl and can take care of myself. Whenever I get depressed because the little king is growing up too fast or because the prince of persia said I have frizzy hair, I get to sit on the couch, watch Roseanne reruns and shamelessly enjoy a whole jar of my mom’s beets!

By the way, I now looove fresh beets! I made beet bites with pistachios and some local goat cheese for the Food Matters Project.

Meg, from My Wholefood Romance, had chosen Bittman’s beet sandwiches as this week’s recipe. Read Meg’s post for the original recipe and click here to see what others have cooked up.