Purple Dinner

Sunday night we had purple dinner. Cooking Light had another name for it but how can a Northwestern family pass up this chance?

The idea behind this recipe, which involves primarily red cabbage, beets, and ground sirloin, is to make a full dinner for 4 with one burger's worth of meat. Odd, interesting, with an unfamiliar ingredient (I've never cooked beets) = Definitely try it!

Ben and I were charmed. It's quite good and, as I told my children as they ate everything else on the plate and looked a little frightened, it tasted like hamburger. I've only met red cabbage and beets where modified by "pickled" and I do not like pickled. It turns out they are beautiful to look at and mildly flavored.

I think my actual description was, "It tastes like hamburger with more to chew." I suppose that could also describe a lot of things you wouldn't want to eat. Anyway, I recommend it.

Tonight's menu: GRILLED! portobellos with whiskey-brined pork chops in the background, smoking for tomorrow night. (The recipe I found is for bourbon brine, but we don't have bourbon. We always have some Jack Daniels.)