Some will accuse me of needlessly politicizing a vegetable, but I ask you: what do beets have in common with the Clintons? Well, like Bill and Hil, they’re a “twofer;” if you buy ‘em with the greens still attached, you get two vegetables for the price of one.

Beet greens [1] are closely related to Swiss chard and can be used in most recipes that call for chard, spinach, kale, or collards. My favorite beet greens aren’t green at all; I grow the heirloom variety Bull’s Blood [2], which has deep mahogany leaves as delicious as they are gorgeous in the garden. The beets are excellent, too, if you can resist harvesting the leaves long enough.

So the next time you buy a bunch of beets, set the greens aside to make a tasty side dish. [3] And then, instead of making the obligatory roast beet & goat cheese salad [4] or whipping up a batch of Uncle Bill’s borscht [5], why not have the beets for breakfast?

Mollie Katzen [6]’s red flannel hash [7] with beets, sweet potatoes and smoked BBQ tofu is a great alternative to conventional corned beef hash if you’re trying to cut back on red meats or fat. I’ve also used turkey pastrami instead of tofu, for a meatier but still healthy variation. And if, like me, you think it’s not truly a hash without potatoes, add some buttery and tender baby Yukon golds. I also like to add a dash of Worcestershire sauce and Bragg’s aminos [8] as the hash cooks down.

The beets will, of course, turn the whole hash red; eat your heart out, Joe McCarthy [9]!