With a title like that, you might be expecting a little Michael Jackson, but that’s not the case. I’m looking to build suspense and rock out, all at the same time.
You know the drill. Hit play, and let’s do this thang (yes, it’s deliberately misspelled; I want you to say it with a little twang in your voice).
I read a lot of different food blogs, and as a result, I see some really weird flavor combos. Some might even call them Strange, But Good. In fact, Ms. Laura has the market cornered on this very topic, or at least she’s ballsy enough to host a link up party about it.
When Laura first proposed this little party, I was curious and definitely interested, but I didn’t think I was a contender. Hell, my food’s not strange. It’s good (most of the time), healthy (most of the time) and fairly run of the mill. It’s pretty normal and straight forward, if you ask me. This may be hard to believe, but I’m being serious here. No sarcasm for once. I truly don’t think my food is that out there.
Apparently, this was a misguided assumption on my part. Case in point: I posted a picture of my Saturday morning breakfast on Facebook, and one of my friends had the nerve to say “sounds absolutely gross.” Um, exsqueeze me…baking powder. I was floored, blown away even. Then I asked the Hubby, does this sound gross to you? His response was “Yep.” Now the man vacuumed my shoe closet earlier in the day, so I forgave him for his cruel words…well really just one word, but who’s counting; other than me obviously.
But still….I thought this breakfast was pretty badass. Guess I’m going to have to join Laura’s link up party to see if people think this is strange. I can already vouch for the good.
Before I tell you exactly what it was, I’m going to break down how it began. It was Saturday morning, and since I had received beets in my most recent CSA share, I was thinking a beverage might be in order.
I grabbed my trusty blender and proceeded to fill it with all kinds of juicing goodness: one cup of pure orange juice, two beets, one and half CSA carrots, two tangelos, the juice of one lemon, and some ice because I like my beet juice chilled (it makes a world of difference, trust me). I always peel my fruit before tossing it all into the blender, and this time was no exception, although it had a surprise ending. While I was peeling a pretty sizeable orange, I discovered I had accidentally peeled a grapefruit instead. Oops.
You would think I would know the difference between an orange and a grapefruit, but that’s simply not the case. You would think I’d be embarrassed confessing this to you now, and that’s not the case either. I have no shame…or very little anyway.
In my defense (you know me; always ready with a solid response), grapefruit is my least favorite of the fruit family because of its sour nature, so I hardly mess with them. Plus, I was working with a grab bag of fruit the in-laws had gifted me (I love when they shop at Costco for two people; I inevitable get some kind of goodness).
At this point, I was having concerns. My blender contained the juice from an entire lemon, and let me tell you, he was juicy enough (I’m going to show an iota of restraint and skip the dirty joke here).
My drink was already bordering on sour, and now I had to add an entire grapefruit to the mix since it would be a venial sin (my Catholic school education rears her screeching head) to waste it. What to do, what to do? I needed something sweet, but I wasn’t feeling honey, agave, or maple syrup, and then it came to me. It was a flash of lightning, a Christmas miracle perhaps, or maybe I was listening to AC DC’s Thunderstruck at the time of conception.
Sitting in my fridge was an unopened bottle of peach champagne: sweet, fruity, and alcoholic. What better way to start the day than with a Beet Juice Mimosa. Who cares if it was only ten o’clock. It was certainly noon somewhere, and since I had a long work week, I felt I deserved a little morning mouth pleasure (again skipping the joke). After my epiphany occurred, I felt like a genius, a rock star, if you will. Obviously, this was an award-winning idea (I’m not sure who’s handing out awards, but sign me up please).
Since I didn’t want the beet juice to overpower the Champagne (hello party foul!), I literally blended my beets and fruits until they were the consistency of juice: airy, light and liquid-y. There was no smoothie like texture happening here. I filled half of my crystal glass with champagne and then slowly added half a glass of beet juice because obviously if I’m going to start drinking at ten in the morning, I’m doing it in style.
Oh My Gawd! Oh My Gawd. It was so good I forced (yes, forced) the Hubby to try some since he was drinking just the juice, without the champagne. Odd man, I tell you. In any event, I had two glasses and likely would have downed a third (and probably been quite tipsy) if I hadn’t run out of beet juice. It was a travesty, but I was able to move forward and prepare my second breakfast of the day.
Now, you may well be wondering what one pairs with a beet juice mimosa, and I would tell you yolk porn, and Parmesan garlic roasted sweet potatoes, which is the very picture I posted on Facebook.
So you tell me? Completely normal, Strange but good, or “absolutely gross?” What’s your favorite strange, but good meal?
I’m not going to pretend and say this whole breakfast combo doesn’t sound strange, because well it does… however, weirdly enough, it sounds pretty amazing @ the same time =)
Thanks Jessie. I love a little honesty, but not too much…. 🙂
Your opinion is in good company with my friend and my Hubby.
Maybe I am a contender for the strange but good linkup party.
Whoa. This is the perfect example of Strange But Good. And that mimosa may be making an appearance at my family’s table for Christmas brunch!
Crap; I really thought it was normal, and it should make an appearance at your family breakfast. It was phenomenal, and I’m quite sure the healthyiness of the beets and fruit counteracted the alcohol. 🙂
Strange but good ! It looks really tasty.
Thanks Gillian. I appreciate you stopping by and commenting.
I must say it does sound a wee bit different…but different is good–OBVIOUSLY, because your description actually has me wishing I had a glass!! The eggs and sweet potatoes looks totally normal though–ok, well maybe not “All American” white potato normal, but normal enough and definitely yummy enough!!!!!! 🙂
I love the first photo you posted! All the fruit looks so photogenic! I think it’s a great combo, not weird…and I had beets in my salad for lunch today so I’m a big fan!
Looks delicious, but I love strange. My favorite gross but good is ramen noodle. I’m pretty sure on a molecular level it is not even actually food. It is a rare treat when my monthly mood gets the best of me (and not even every month). I load it up with sriacha and green onions. Then drink a gallon of water because my tongue immediately swells from the overload of salt. It is bad, but I love it.
Yolk Porn.
This is the kind of photo my 14 yr old son can save onto his photo stream.
I would delightedly eat and drink this any time of day.
How do you have peach champagne unopened *yet* chilled? If I had peach champagne I’d have the empty bottle in the recycling bin. Love peaches. As does my girl–she asked Santa for a peach tree a couple of years ago.
Confession: it’s been in the fridge for a couple of months. I bought it after an earlier mimosa spurt and just hadn’t gotten around to using it. Then this weekend, it was like Eureka! Beet mimosas!
I love that this post is kid approved and your daughter wanted a peach tree. Can you imagine how fabulous that could be?
Don’t need to imagine. She got her peach tree last fall, after we moved to Ohio. Two, in fact. A dwarf and a regular. And tended the trees (pruned so you can throw a cat through the branches) and thinned the peaches and did everything she should have . . . and then something got under or through the netting and ate the peaches oh about a week or so before they were ripe.
Man that’s a total bummer. Sorry to hear that; I hope she fares better next year.
Sounds good to me! I love the idea of a Strange-But-Good round-up. I have nothing to contribute though… All of my meals are pretty plain. Lol.
There might be a meal or two you could share.;)
10am drinking is the best sort of drinking. Which is why I’m glad mimosas exist. This DOES sound odd to me, but, unlike the rest of the world, the odder something sounds, the more I want to try. Beet-mosa, indeed! Now I kinda want to try making a “green juice” mimosa too. Because then you could alternate between the two on Christmas morning. And then have a REALLY great holiday ;D
A green mimosa! Or red and green mimosa’s! Now you’re talking and what festive color choices too. Sady, my family would run in terror and then I’d have to drink the mimosa’s all by myself. Hmmmm.
I really don’t see why that would be a problem 😉 Ooo, and you could garnish your red-and-green mimosas with a slice of starfruit, for extra Christmas-decoration-ness.
I think it sounds Damn Good. we LOVE our mimosas around here, so much that my sister was quoted when drinking plain grapefruit juice: “huh. this stuff tastes really bad without champagne” 😉
Why thank you. It was one of those recipes that just came together, and I was as pleased as punch (beet juice punch?) with the final outcome. The champagne was just the icing on the cake.
I really love the color the beets give these juices…I just stumbled across your blog yesterday when searching for beet specific juice recipes – thanks for posting these.
When you start experimenting again try making a knock of bloody mary – but instead of tomato use green tomatillo and some beets!
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Strange but good, not only does it look amazing. I can’t wait to “beet it!” and treat my family to a unique mimosa experience.