Every now and then, I would take my daughter to grocery shopping and let her pick one vegetable that’s unknown to her. Then, we will make the dish together at home. By doing so, she is willing to try and eat new vegetables. That’s how she fell in love with kale chips.
So last weekend, I had her pick a bunch of organic red beets at Whole foods. I sautéed beet greens with olive oil, garlic, and a tiny piece of canned sardine (for my son’s sake). My daughter was totally into it and my son also tried some. The most picky eater (aka my husband) of course turned his nose up at it><.
Monday morning, I roasted the three beetroots at 375F for about 55 minutes. Totally unprepared, I ate a slice after peeling off the skin. The earthy flavor grossed me out. No offense. It tasted like dirt to me!! I had to say no to my daughter when she asked to try a piece. I was so worried that she will hate it after I let her try without dressing it up.
So I sliced one beetroot into strips and added them to the cauliflower fried rice. I also used sesame oil to cover up the earthy flavor. The bright pink color did make my daughter excited about eating them, but not long she started complaining about their taste… My son ate some without questioning because he was hungry after coming back from school. So that’s not a very successful attempt.
Tuesday afternoon, I thought about my one bowl banana chocolate cake (the only way to get my daughter eat banana). So I decided to make a chocolate cake out of beetroots.
Ingredients:
1 midium size roasted beetroots (about 1 1/4 cup)
1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
2/3 cup water
2 tablespoons avocado oil
1 teaspoon organic apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup of organic raisins
Dry ingredients:
1 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup organic raw sugar
Add wet ingredients in the blender and blend well. I specifically smelled and tasted the mixture. The apple cider vinegar and cinnamon did cover most of beetroots’ earthy flavor ^^.
For better presentation, use a cake pan, and oil and dust the pan. I just grabbed Pyrex 9″ pie plate. Combine all dry ingredients in the plate before pouring in the wet mixture. Mix well and bake at 350F for about 50-55 minutes. I just left the cake cool down in the plate. I wished to take a better picture with camera, but not iPhone. The cake baked very well with a glossy shine on the top.
We all had the cake as the dessert after dinner. The cake was very moist and delicious though I can still taste a bit of beetroots. My son raved about the cake and ate almost half of it. My daughter liked it too. The cake kept well in room temperature for couple days and its taste improved day after day. I had the last piece yesterday afternoon (the 3rd day), and couldn’t taste the beetroot in it.
Being encouraged by my kids, I am now thinking to use the last roasted beetroot for morning pancakes tomorrow. Wish me good luck!
ethanlillian 
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