Bears…..beets……battlestar galactica.

Okay mostly just beets here, but I still love the office.

Last week I was scrolling through my instagram and saw that there was a local produce market going on in town and I decided to go check it out! It was adorable. I talked to a little old lady that had a thick accent and wanted to sell me every single produce item she had. After much deliberation I decided to buy beets! A bundle of beets. I haven’t worked with beets too much, so I figured it would be fun to give them a chance.

When I came home I was so excited about my purchase that I wanted to tell my roommate about it. I said, “Ashlin, guess what! Today I went to the local produce market and bought beets!”

I was expecting her excitement to be less than mine, or to match it at best, but to my surprise she was stoked. She said, “NO WAY, you got beets?? Thats kind of a big purchase!! Congrats!”  Taken off-guard and confused I said “…i mean, they were like $3? But thanks! I think I’m going to use them to make hummus.” And all the sudden her excitement dropped. She thought I was talking about Beats Headphones and got so excited. When she realized it was beets, the vegetable, the excitement decreased. But we got a good laugh out of it all.

So I apologize to any of you that are upset that I bought beets and not beats. I truly apologize. But not really because LOOK HOW BEAUTIFUL THIS HUMMUS IS. The color gets me every time. Not only do beets bring that amazing color to hummus, it brings a bit of a sweeter taste, and its delicious.

To make the hummus the beets must first be roasted. You can throw them onto a cookie sheet and put them in the oven at 400 degrees for 45-50 minutes, but honestly who has time for that? I certainly didn’t. So instead I just threw them in the microwave and cooked them for about 10 min. Since you’re just blending the beets anyway, the microwave works great. If you were making them any other way it probably would be worth it to put them in the microwave. But thats not the case here, so the microwave saves a lot of time! Also, I only use one beet in this hummus, but if you want a stronger “beet” taste then simply add more!

This hummus is easy, beautiful, and so healthy. Its packed with all the good things that normal hummus is – beans, tahini, and so many spices – as well as beets. Just google search the health benefits of beets and you will see that people claim beets do everything from slowing aging to preventing cancer. Wow. If thats true we should all be eating this beet hummus everyday. Regardless, beets are filled with lots of vitamins and iron and good stuff. So you should probably go to your local food produce market today and buy beets. You could also buy beats headphones, but you should probably just buy beets. And make this hummus.

BEET HUMMUS

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 medium sized beet
• 1 can chickpeas (15oz)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp garlic
• 2 tsp tahini
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• pepper, to taste.

DIRECTIONS:

Place beet in ziplock bag and microwave for 10 minutes, or until it is soft (it can also be cooked in the oven, see post above). Once softened, peel off skin. It should be easy to remove, but you might want to wear gloves or your hands will be a little pink.

Put the beet in a blender with the remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth.

Scoop into a bowl and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Mine is topped with a drizzle of tahini and sesame seeds.

ENJOY.