Wow, that seems like a lot of beets. Why raw? I don't think I ever tried raw, it seems like eating raw potato. I generally eat them in 3 ways.
1.Shread, cook on the stovetop in a covered shallow pan with vinegar, a little water, and a touch of honey. Season with fresh herbs, salt and pepper, and a touch of butter at the end. Use a food processor or a deep sink for shreading the beats or you will spray pink all over your kitchen!
2. peel, oven roast with olive oil and salt. Great if you use a mix of gold and red beets.
3. wrap in foil, cook until tender, let cool and slip the skins right off. Use in any salad, as a simple side... any way you want really, this is just so you have cooked beets ready to go.

BEET RISOTTO! Such a simple recipe and so tasty. Make sure not to skip on the Goat cheese, its the perfect topping. This recipe is perfect: http://www.eatliverun.com/beet-risotto-with-goat-cheese/

French "Peasant" Beets from Food 52 is a personal favorite. Works great with goat cheese too.
http://www.food52.com/recipes/3302_french_peasant_beets

Also, not sure it was what your doc had in mind, but beet chocolate cake sounds pretty good to me:
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2006/06/07/chocolate-beet-cake/

For raw beets, two suggestions:

1. Shred equal amounts of raw beets and carrots, top with a fairly acidic vinaigrette. I've found that lime juice + a little olive oil + cumin works well, especially if you have some cilantro added.

2. If you have a juicer, make a juice of beets, carrots, apple, and ginger, maybe some orange. Really yummy!

If the poster sees this, I'd be curious to know what four beets a week, preferably raw, is supposed to be helpful for. It's such a specific food prescription--unusual from an MD.

There's this sandwich:

Slice a cooked and peeled beet on good multigrain bread. Spread on some goat cheese and add some mixed greens, red onion and balsamic mayo dressing.

It's awesome.

I suggest juicing also-here's a recipe for carrot-celery-beet juice.

http://www.learnrawfood.com/recipes/category/juice_recipes/

i like it sliced or in chunks (after roasting) with goat cheese and pistachios with a little balsamic vinegar on it. it was a huge hit at a dinner party

http://falling4food.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/dinner-with-friends/

I've heard the Aussies have beet with their burgers. I roast mine with other veggies.

I roast it and add it to all kinds of salads. It's especially good with feta!

*it=them. Need more coffee.

On Food52 filed under Genius Recipes - they featured Jamie Oliver's Smoked Beets. It looks really good. I have not tried it yet, but I plan to.

I was going to suggest the same ideas as jmccourt.

Julienne the beets, add carrots or pears, toss with spinach or other greens and make a simple olive oil and lemon/lime dressing.

Or, juice with oranges, lemons/limes and carrots.

Be warned though, it will make your poo turn a beet color!

I have an awesome beet side dish!

Beet Tzatziki:

1 cup labne (or plain greek yogurt - full fat works best for the consistency) You can find Labne at Armenian Markets or in specialty stores.
juice from 1 lemon
fresh dill
1 garlic clove - grated
3 of the darkest beets you can find
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400. Put beats in a roasting pan. First cover with saran wrap and then with foil. This will lock in the moisture so they steam in their own juice. Cook beets for roughly 30 min. If they go longer thats fine, they just get easier to shred. I usually take the dog for a walk in this time, or go for a jog.

2. Let beets cool. You dont want to burn your hands. Those suckers are hot!

3. Shred beets into a large mixing bowl.

4. Add Labne and lemon juice. Depending on the size of the beets you may need to add more labne.

5. Grate garlic using a zester or microplane into the bowl. Mix.

6. Add dill, salt and pepper to taste. This is considered a condiment, or a salad. It should be a little thicker than a regular tzatziki sauce.

7. Chill for until firm. It gets firmer the longer its in the fridge.

8. Enjoy on just about anything. It works great as a side to a garden salad, on crackers, with cucumbers and radishes.

I work at a bakery, and we cant keep the stuff on the shelves!

I love beets! If you want to eat them raw, try pickling them (great in salads) or using them in smoothies. I'm especially fond of chocolate + beet smoothies with some fresh ginger -- sounds crazy but they are delicious.

Shredded beet and apple salad!

Shred a beet (or chop... whatever) and an apple... the mix up with half yogurt/half whipped cream. It sweet and totally unexpectedly delicious.

I usually shave raw beets and carrots on top of salad if I've got them lying around. It's pretty tasty.

Another idea is to cut them up into little cubes (about 1/4 inch dice) and caramelize them, cooked on low heat with a bit of olive oil for a while. These are good the next day too. And I've put them into chile and stew before, right at the end. I like them in chile better because the colour change isn't as obvious!

Oh, and another thing I've done with them is roast them in a vegetable medley. Cut the beets up into big chunks along with potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, onions, garlic (most root veg works great) and roast until tender with some olive oil and salt and pepper. So tasty.

Excellent salad I had in the Balkans: Shred fresh, uncooked beets, carrots, and apples for a healthy "slaw"... no condiments required. Start with equal portions of each ingredient, but you can adjust it depending on your taste. I recommend choosing a sweet apple and organic carrots for best flavor.

Try beet hummus. Good as a dip or as a sandwich spread.

I don't know if juice counts, but if you have a juicer, beets add a wonderful sweetness. I like apple, beet, spinach/kale, lemon and a bit of ginger. Also, beet raita. Shredded beets with yogurt, a bit of sugar and salt and tempered mustard/cumin seeds.

Roast!

Cube them, and toss with a shallot vinegarette and parsley. Great as a side or starter or added to a salad (with feta or goat cheese and pepitos or hazelnuts, yum).

Lasts for days and gets better overnight.

Lucky you (and I mean it)! I love beets. Here are links to my two favorite recipes reviewed:

raw beets, on a sandwich - so good it made my cry - reviewed here (and my kids remember this a year later, got to make it again!)

and roasted beets in a salad here, again even kid friendly!

Raw beets are amazing, but avoid ones that grew in hot weather - I discovered that the hard way when I left my beets in the hot Utah ground too long this summer!

equal parts grated beets & grated apples. sprinkle of oj or cider, sprinkle of cinnamon, dollop of yogurt... breakfast of champions. add nuts & coconut if you're fancy.

love this salad: grate cooked beets, add one garlic clove per person, mayonaise+sour cream, some pepper.

I love beets roasted but my other standby is soup.

Brown 1 onion

add a packed of cooked beetroot

add one tin of tomatoes

add one tin of butter beans

cover with vegtable stock

cook about 20 mins

blend

then serve with greek yogurt or soft goats cheese and bread

Not that it's any of my business, but I'm just curious as to what kind of ailment would be helped by four beets per week.

LOVE BEETS! I usually boil or roast them, let them cool, and make a salad with goat cheese, orange slices and walnuts. For Valentine's Day, I cut the sliced beets into hearts for my hunky boyfriend :) He loved!

Agree with Falling4Food, try roasted beets over your favorite greens with goat cheese, pistachios, and either balsamic or honey mustard dressing. Delicious!
Bon Appetit has a recipe for beet soup with Kefir that looks interesting.

Best-Ever Beet and Bean Burgers?
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/restaurant-reproductions/restaurant-reproduction-bestever-veggie-burgers-from-northstar-cafe-096967

Be prepared as you may get a surprise in the bathroom. What worried me as possible blood was the result of a few days' lunches that included roasted beets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeturia

What a strange, and strangely specific thing for a doctor to say. I am also curious about the ailment or at least why beets, specifically.
Anyway, they won't be raw, but make a big pot of Borscht to use up a lot of beets.

I'm with lazy_lurker in the raw-in-a-sandwich camp, especially if you have a mandolin so you can slice them thinly easily. Golden beets are especially good raw, but red are good too (don't know if your doc recommended beets for vitamins only found in red beets, or something specific like that).

My favorite is thinly sliced raw golden beets, julienned carrots and arugula piled between two pieces of whole grain bread, one piece spread with hummus and the other with mashed ripe avocado... seriously the tastiest thing, even my carnivorous husband loves it.

my absolute favorite beet recipe: beet pasta! sometimes I use the leftover beet-garlic puree in crepes, too!

http://www.freshdirect.com/cg_meal_item_detail.jsp?recipeId=rec_wk_shk_psta_beets&variantId=rec_wk_shk_psta_beets_default

If you don't have a sugar issue, you could quick pickle them.

If you try juicing, try adding an apple with the other vegetables. Beet juice can be powerfully strong if you're not used to it. A mixture I like is 3 med carrots, 1 apple, handful of baby spinach, small handful of parsley and up to 1/2 large raw beet.

And I make this salad often.....
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/beet-and-goat-cheese-arugula-salad-recipe/index.html

beat and carrot "slaw" shread equal amounts of beats and carrots, then throw on a vinaigrette of your choosing (balsamic is nice, or just a simple olive oil lemon juice and salt). A very tasty simple side dish, or main course if you topped it with a meat perhaps?

I second the beet hummus recipe; the one from River Cottage is good:

http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/chefs/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall/beetroot-and-walnut-hummus-recipe

Also the pickled beets in Joy of Cooking are very good.

They're a great invisible-flavor addition in chocolate cake, muffins, brownies and pudding cakes.

I suggest trying foodily.com since it searches most recipe resources (love that site since I can put in a long list of things I *don't* want recipes for as well).

Ina Garten has a beet & orange salad recipe I believe in the first Barefoot Contessa book that's wonderful. I make it using the orange champagne vinegar from Trader Joe's.

I got this recipe from NYTimes (I think) or maybe Chowhound: brown some butter in a pan, add shredded beets and a tablespoon of balsamic. Cover and turn off heat. Cook pasta, drain and add to beets with fresh mint and toasted poppyseeds (okay and maybe some parmesan). You won't be disappointed!

wow, i'd tell my doc to suggest something else but i haven't been a fan of beets since the nuns force fed them to me in kindergarten.
whatever you do, just remember to space out your servings. i know of at least two friends who rushed to er thinking they were dying when all they'd done was eat too many beets! (stomach cramps and red...eliminations.

Ou, yes My doctor told me this about beets to - it's good one. :) Just need more imagination to serve beets different, eh?
I have tried these simple salads: boil 2 beets (peel them before) in hot water for 30-35 minutes (or more). Also boil some carrots (1 maybe 2). When they are soft start to shredder them (both carrots and beets). Mix them and add garlic (all on your taste). You can add some greens too - dill, parsley. And on the end add sour creme - 1 tsp or 1 tbsp (all on your taste). You can use also mayonnaise but that dos not give so good taste of it all - personally I don't like mayonnaise at all. Some people add also boiled eggs (1 ore 2) to these salads. On the end you can eat it all just like salads alone or add to some dish - it's all up to you. :)

I also shred beets and carrots and put them on top of spinach with some shredded cheddar, chopped green onions and sunflower seeds. Drizzle some dijon mustard balsamic vinaigrette on and you've got one of my favourite salads!

My Estonian boyfriend makes rosoljie or pink salad. Cooked beets mixed with sour cream, dill, herring, apple, etc. It's the Estonian version of potato salad and delicious!

Grated raw beets w orange vinaigrette. An occasional addition of blue or goat cheese. Heaven!

I'm with HighWater's boyfriend. I think cooked beets with herring is a match made in heaven. I'm okay with beets, but with herring...it's fab.

I know beets have all kinds of good compounds but it is a very specific recommendation. I would say it's none of our business but since you put it out there, are we allowed to ask why?

Easy! Choco-beat smoothie!

- 1 beet
- 1 frozen banana
- tbsp chocolate
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon
- 2 packets of splenda (or truvia or actual sugar, whatever you prefer. honey works too).

Place items in blender and enjoy! I promise, you will hardly taste the beet :)

There's a tasty miso, beet, asparagus soup here: http://honestfare.com/miso-detox-soup/

This is one of my favorite beet recipes:

4 beets, leaves trimmed
3 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tbsp. coarsely chopped Italian parsley
salt and pepper
1 1/3 cups greek yogurt
1 tbsp. shelled pistachios, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Wash beets well, being careful not to pierce their skins. Wrap each beet individually in aluminum foil and bake for about 1 hour, until tender when tested with a sharp knife.
3. Whip oil lightly in a bowl with the lemon juice and garlic.
4. Peel the beets and cut into chunks. Put in bowl and add lemon oil and parsley and season with salt and pepper.
5. Add the yogurt and mix gently. Scatter the pistachio nuts on top and serve.

This is a beet-red pepper soup:

1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 shallots, chopped (1/2 cup)
3 red bell peppers (1 1/2 pounds), stems, ribs, and seeds removed, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 red beets, trimmed, peeled, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup water
3 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
4 oz. soft goat cheese, crumbled (about 1 cup)
lemon wedges, for serving

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, until shallots are translucent and tender, about 4 minutes.

2. Add bell peppers and beets and stir to coat. Add water and chicken stock and bring to a boil. cover partially and reduce heat. Simmer until beets are tender when pierced with a knife, about 1 hour.

3. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Stir in lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper.

4. Working in batches, puree mixture in blender until smooth. Transfer to bowl and refrigerate until chilled (up to overnight).

5. To serve, sprinkle with goat cheese, pepper, and serve with lemon wedges.

I also really enjoy juicing the beets and mixing with juiced kale, cucumber, and carrots. Yum!

Beets and herring? Fascinating, must try. Thanks!

Beet, ginger and cucumber in the vitamix! So good!!

I highly recommend fermenting beets with turnip. Google lacto-fermentation, tho I usually just skip the whey. So delicious as a snack, on salads...

Also, look up beet kvass.

I shred raw beets with red cabbage and make a pink cole slaw that is delicious.

I'm definitely going to try beets as an addition to sandwiches.

Beets cold from the jar with shredded carrots a dusting of sugar and balsamic vinegar

1 beet, shredded
1 banana, chopped
1 cup of milk
= sweet, healthy, filling smoothie!

I love them roasted on the grill with other fall veggies, sliced and added to fried rice, and shredded and made into veggie burgers.

Add beets to coleslaw or roasted fall veggies.

Juicing is also a great way to get your beets. I juice as a job so these recipes are seriously awesome!
1. Beets - Carrots - Cucumber - 1-2 full beets, 1/2 a cucumber, about 4-5 carrots.
2. Beets - Apple - Spinach - Ginger - 1-2 beets, 1 green or other tart apple, handful of spinach, 1 inch piece of ginger.

Make sure to strain the juices. There are competing theories on this - I have found that people who don't normally consume veggie juice find it easier to digest if the pulp is strained out.

You could start your morning with one of these juices and have half of your daily dose covered!

I'm surprised no one mentioned slicing them super thin with a mandolin, brushed with a little olive oil, sprinkled with salt or other tasty herbs and roasted in the oven as chips. SSoooooo good!

I have heard of beets being used in holistic medicine to help lower blood pressure. So maybe that's the reason. My mother made me drink the juice when I was little and got random spikes in blood pressure.

@mariyaodessa: I've heard that too. My uncle goes to a regular MD, not a holistic medicine praticioner. But he lives out in the country, and the country doc is ooold. When he was having bp and cholesterol problems, maybe 10 years ago, he was told to eat more beets and plain oatmeal too.

http://guiltykitchen.com/2009/09/10/roasted-beet-yogurt-puree/