How to Get over an Aversion and a recipe for Beet Brownies

They Weren't Dwight Schrute's Beets...

About two months ago, we roasted a chicken for dinner with root vegetables alongside. There were potatoes, carrots and beets from our Bountiful Basket. Our kids chose not to eat the beets, so my husband and I overloaded ourselves with them. About four hours later, we were sick. Really sick. Praying on the bathroom floor for 24 hours sick. After the cloud of horrible left us, we racked our brains to try and figure out what had happened. All three of our children were right as rain. 

Was it salmonella? Unlikely, since our children ate the chicken too with no reaction. Was it a bug? Unlikely, as the illness hit us at the same time and lasted the same amount of time and our children were unaffected. Eventually, we figured out that our children had avoided the beets and dinner and we laid the blame solely on the blasted beets, they were contaminated or we just ate way to many of them and accidentally cleansed our systems, as beets are often used as a cleansing agent. We weren't sure how we would handle them.

Waste not want not.... (Happy Mom?)

I dislike wasting food on any level. In fact, we never throw any away. I am serious, never. What isn't eaten is either re-purposed for leftovers, given to our voracious beagle as a treat, or composted. We did not want to get rid of the food we feared. They are not all evil, beets contain vitamins and minerals that help guard against heart disease, birth defects, and cancer, especially colon cancer. (Whole Foods Website Reference)

Avoid the Aversion...

Suffice to say, we were not overly excited about hearing that our first co-op basket contained beets. When they arrived, they were beautiful. The greens crisp, denoting fresh pulled veggies. The beets ranged in color from yellow, to orange to blood red. They smelled slightly sweet even. We decided to find a way to ease back into beets and avoid a taste aversion to them forever. Searching the internet, I found many references to Beet Brownies. I decided to play around and came up with the following, child and husband approved recipe.

Sweet Beet Brownies

Ingredients:

2 sticks of butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup unrefined granulated (white) sugar

4 pastured eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups cocoa mix (we use Alton Brown's, a big money saver-Here's the Recipe for Alton Cocoa 

3 beets, peeled, steamed for 25 minutes, and then pureed

1 cup whole wheat flour

First, take your beets and rinse them well, cut off the greens and peel the outer skin off of them. Cut the beets in half and put them in a pan, covered half way up with water. bring the pot to simmer and cover with a lid, allow to simmer until the beets are soft, 20-25 minutes

While your beets are simmering, beats four eggs (I use a stand mixer). Add the salt, baking powder, vanilla and cocoa mix to the eggs and beat until fully incorporated. There will be a couple little lumps, and that's OK.

Melt the butter in another pan on low heat. Add in your sugars and stir until they have melted together, then stir often to avoid the sugar burning and butter scalding. You can remove it from heat if you need.

Remove the beats when they are soft enough to mash, either with a fork or food processor and preheat your oven at 350 degrees.

Turn your mixer with the egg and cocoa mixture on low and add in the butter and sugar mix, then the pureed beets. Mix on medium speed until fully incorporated, then add in the 1 cup of flour until fully incorporated. This mix will appear a bit soupy, and that is alright. 

Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper or grease it well with butter. Pour in the mix and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool, and enjoy.