Gluten free beet potato mash with Basil! A great side vegetable side dish rich in antioxidants and full of flavor! Easy to make and healthy.Â
What’s more important, proper training or proper recovery? I’d say the two go hand in hand, yes? But I would also have to say that you cannot MAXIMIZE performance without proper recovery. Recovery is crucial, which means recovery food and fuel is too!
Think about it, what you put in your body after you train hard can both heal and repair or cause more inflammation. This why I am a huge advocate for eating gluten free, especially with athletes!
A gluten free diet can:
- Reduce inflammation
- Improves digestion
- Ease digestive discomfort
- Helps you to absorb more nutrients
I think Dr. Wellingtons article’s on Active.com said it perfectly!
“With gluten removed, the body’s immune system can rest and absorption can be restored. The body can then function at optimal levels and repair muscles more efficiently.
A gluten-free diet helps to maintain a stable blood sugar level during exercise, which is optimal for an increase in muscle strength and stamina.”
Yes, that is my hunk of a husband below
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Okay, so you know my thoughts on gluten free eating, but the question still remains…
What the heck do you eat for carbs pre or post workout, a race, specific training, etc.?
To keep it simple –> EAT REAL (meaning unprocessed) FOOD.
And today you’re in luck. Here’s one of my favorite REAL food gluten free recipes to MAXIMIZE athletic performance. Actually, it’s good for any one at any time, but you get my point. 
Gluten Free Beet Basil & Potato Mash
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2
Description
Gluten Free Beet Basil & Potato Mash
Ingredients
- A little less than a 1lb of red potatoes
- · 4 plain cooked beets
- · 4 tablespoon cultured ream cheese, feta, or dairy free cream cheese
- · ¼ cup chopped fresh basil
- · ½ to 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- · Black pepper (to taste)
- · 1 or 2 chopped bell peppers or banana peppers (optional)
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes (or leave some skin on if you prefer) and add them to a pot of boiling water with a little bit of sea salt.
- Cook on medium or medium low for about 10 minutes, until tender.
- While the new potatoes are cooking, cut your beets in halves or quarters. Then add to your pot and simmer for a few minutes more. Remove from heat and drain the water.
- Add about 3 heaping spoonful’s of cream cheese, your chopped basil, garlic, and pepper. I also added a few banana peppers for spice. Mash until smooth or keep it chunky, whichever way you prefer.
- Serves 2
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 20 min
Beetroot contains pigments called betalains. These pigments contain nitrogen and work as both antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. Beetroot is also rich in Vitamins A, B and C; folic acid, magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, and iron. Source
Being that I am gluten intolerant, I choose to live Gluten Free for my health. These are just my suggestions from what I have gathered along my GF journey. If you think you have a gluten allergy or intolerance, my best advice would to seek a professional or ask your doctor.Â
Favorite gluten free Carb? Favorite way to eat beets?Â
Eat up and Recover well!
Your combination ideas always amaze me!! Beets and potatoes, who would have though?? My favorite gluten free carbs are oats and sweet potato. I definitely eat both of them just about every day!!!
YUM. I love beats – roasted or grilled are probably my top choices. I think sweet potatoes might be my favorite carb of all time!
om nom nom! I have been trying to find a way to sneak beets in (smoothies were a fail…) this might just do the trick! definitely going to test this one out this week.
i think you’d love bre!! and you can use daiya cream cheese! p.s. is your blog no longer?
yes- daiya would be perfect! Blog is still up (or should be!) not that I’ve been posting much! Need to send you an email and fill you in…
Yum! I love beets but only started to eat them a few years ago. I actually thought I was dying of intestinal cancer… yes I even talked with my doctor and when she asked me if I ate beets started laughing. Perhaps a confession??
Cheers friend!
haha!! james has had that happen to him. He thought he was dying
I love your creations- so unique!
beets and basil yum!!
great post 😉
love the combo!! maybe beets and plantain mash is next! i bet you’ve already made that, right? haha
Looks so good! I love beets and would eat them daily except my hubs can’t stomach the smell of them. He had a bad experience with beets and can’t stand the thought of them. I try to limit how much I bring ’em home just for the sake of our marriage. 🙂
bahaha, understandable!
That looks pretty darn good although cream cheese is not my thing but substitutions can be made if I get the energy to take time to try it.. 🙂 Your post are helping so many. I have not recipes for GF since I am not GF… 🙂
Here’s to real food!
I cannot agree more! Eat REAL FOOD people. I wish I could do more to get that point through to people. It drives me crazy how we all think fake food is the way to living healthy or the fact that people just are not aware of what they’re eating. I so wish eating and health were taught more properly in our school systems.
Love this! Looks yummy! I am about 2 weeks into a gluten free/wheat free diet and I feel AMAZING! I can’t believe how my skin has cleared up too! There are tons of fabulous carbs we can still have!
I’m starting to eat more and more carbs lately, and I just decided to grow potatoes this summer, so…I’ll have all these things growing! Sounds right up my GF alley!
Confession…I’m not the biggest fan of beets. They’re just not my thing; however, I would be willing to give them another try as I know they’re super healthy for you, and this Beet Basil and Potato Mash has me intrigued. It does sound awfully tasty!
AND, love the new header!
A new way to cook with beets! I love it! 🙂
Secret: I’ve never had beets. I don’t know why, but I haven’t. I should probably get on that because this looks like a great way to eat them!
i think you’d love!
I just bought some beets last night and had NO idea what I was planning to do with them. Thanks for the recipe!!
first, love the header! so pretty. second, i love beets, so you better believe i am going to try this recipe so soon! and i might go with the yogurt suggestion too.
Love this and couldn’t agree more about eating to perform! And yes, you do have quite the hunk of a husband 🙂
Anything besides cream cheese that works? Like the kefir or dairy free yogurt? just curious
yep, you can use daiya cream cheese. I’ve used that or even nutritional yeast. yogurt will work but add it after it’s cooked of course. haha
Sweet potatoes OR winter squash OR Quinoa… I’m surprised I’m not stained orange haha! Favorite way to eat beets… Grilled! MmM.. Can’t wait for the farmers market 😀
Oooh I love beets! This looks awesome. I’ve been gluten free (among other changes)for a month now, and the inflammation in my finger has greatly reduced and the pain is almost gone. It’s crazy how powerful food is!
Yes! Recovery is such a necessary part of the equation! I love beets but don’t eat them too often. LOVE this recipe and the color!
Can I move in and you just cook for me all the time???
you move here!
I would love that recipe–beets are one of my favorite foods! And you know I’m not GF but do eat a whole-foods based diet, so there you have it.
We all know what works best for us, yes?! Good stuff!
I love how it’s so colorful!!
I absolutely love beets! This recipe looks great. And yes to recovery. So important all around.
Agh! I actually like beets now, and use them whenever I see them at salad bars, but i really need to start purchasing them and buying them more. They are so good for you, and I need all the recovery food I can get right now. Thanks for a recipe I can actually use. Hopefully all this fine tuning pays off next Saturday in my half marathon 🙂
I need you to be my nutritionist and your husband to be my trainer. We would be an unstoppable team! Deal? Again with the great timing. I’m thinking I’m not fueling very well for long runs. I seem to hit a wall around mile 8. What? It wasn’t that long ago that I was running 20+ miles on a regular basis. a few days of food journaling and I’ll figure it out.
Thanks for the recipe!