I hope you enjoyed the veggies on Wednesday because I have more today. Today is Beta Carotene Day! Did you know that beta carotene is an inactive form of vitamin A? The foods with the highest amount of beta carotene are carrots, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, spinach and collard greens, turnip greens, winter squash and kale. These are among my favorite vegetables. Carrots were my favorite vegetable as a child. Supposedly they helped your eyesight. Why then do I wear bifocals now? I digress. I hated spinach because canned spinach was served in my elementary school and Dr. Mann, the principal, made sure everyone ate their spinach! YUCK! It wasn’t until my great grandmother cooked spinach when she visited us that I really liked spinach. Fannie Givens was a great cook, but her spinach was the best. 
To get the most benefit these vegetables should be served raw or lightly steamed. I don’t know about you, but raw squash isn’t very appealing. Raw sweet potatoes are good. I haven’t eaten them raw in years, but it was a favorite of my great grandmother. Some say my great grandfather liked them too, but he died when I was young so I don’t recall seeing him eat them.
Several of these vegetables are closely related; broccoli, collard greens, and Brussels sprouts and are all members of the genus Brassica. Kohlrabi and cauliflower aren’t being served today. If you like pumpkin, you’re probably having withdrawal by now. It was a bad year for pumpkins and canned pumpkin is as rare as hen’s teeth.
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