To Beet or Not to Beet. . .

I have never been a big vegetable fan.  There were very few vegetables that I would eat as a kid and although I have tried many more as an adult, there are still quite a few that I am not a fan of.  That being said, I wasn't too excited to start the vegetable and vegetarian rotation at school.  Once I looked over the assignment list, I instantly saw something that got me a little more excited.  We were to cook a vegetable off of a given list at home.  As soon as I saw beets on the list I got a little excited.  I have never had a beet in my life, I have no idea how to cook a beet and I really had no clue what they tasted like, but I knew what I was going to make.  Red velvet cake!  I know, a cake with vegetables, you must be thinking that I have lost my mind.  I had remembered reading about how traditional red velvet cakes used beets to give them their color instead of dumping in a bottle of food coloring.  Once I had this figured out I decided that since the greens of the beets are edible too I should use them as well.  I was making lasagnas for a family dinner on Saturday so I decided to turn the greens into a pesto and make a non-traditional lasagna.

Beet Green Pesto
greens from 6 beets
1/2 cup basil
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

I started by cutting the tops off of the beets and then tore the leaves from the stalks.  I washed the leaves a couple of times and then spun them dry.  Put the beet greens and the basil in the bowl of the food processor and process until coarsely chopped.

Then add the garlic, cheese, pine nuts and vinegar and process again until smooth.

Once that is smooth, turn the processor on and stream in the olive oil until the pesto sauce comes together.

I had to give it a try so I spread it on some english muffins for my lunch.  Once I had the pesto done, I got started on assembling the lasagna.

White Chicken Lasagna with Beet Green Pesto

1 pound ground chicken

2 Tbs rosemary, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 container baby bella mushrooms, sliced

beet green pesto

1 stick butter

1/2 cup flour

1 pint cream

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3 cups shredded parmesan and asiago blend

1 1/2 cups chevre

no boil lasagna noodles

Start by cooking the ground chicken until cooked through and then add the rosemary, garlic and mushrooms.  Cook for a couple more minutes and then add the pesto sauce.  Let the chicken mixture continue to cook over a low heat while making the mornay sauce.

For the mornay sauce, start by melting the butter over medium heat in a small sauce pan.  Add the flour to the melted butter and whisk until combined.  Pour in the cream and continue to whisk until the sauce is smooth and slightly thickened.  Slowly add 1 1/2 cups of the cheese and keep whisking until it's all melted into the sauce.  Add in the nutmeg and stir until combined.

Spread a little of the chicken mixture and the mornay sauce over the bottom of a 9x9 glass baking dish.

Cover this with a layer of pasta and then top with another layer of chicken, top with some crumbled chevre and remaining shredded cheese and then more mornay sauce.

Continue layering until the dish is full.  You should end with mornay sauce on the top.

Bake at 375, covered with foil for 30 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for a remaining 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let sit for at least 15 minutes before cutting into it.

I would definitely make this again and the pesto sauce could be used in all kinds of dishes.  If I were to make this again, I would use a little less oil in the pesto because the lasagna was a bit too oily when it was cooked.

Now that I had conquered the beet greens, it was time to move on to the beets.

Red Velvet Cupcakes 

3 large beets

water

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 Tbs vinegar

2 sticks butter, softened

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 1/3 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbs cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 350.  Peel the beets and place in a baking dish with enough water to come 1/2" up the side of the beets.

I love the rings of color!  Also just a little tip, if you plan to work with beets, plan on turning a lovely shade of purplish-red.  My hands were stained like this for a day.  Gloves would have been a good idea.

Tightly cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 60-90 minutes, until the beets are softened and cooked through.

Place the beets in the bowl of the food processor and process with the lemon juice and vinegar until pureed.

In a mixer with the paddle attachment cream together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.  Pour in the sugar and mix until smooth.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is incorporated and then mix in the vanilla.  Sift together all of the dry ingredients and slowly add them to the mixer.  Measure out 1 1/2 cups of the beet puree and add to the batter, mix until well combined.

Since these are red velvet cakes, they were screaming for some cream cheese frosting so I whipped some up to top the cupcakes with.

Cream Cheese Frosting

16 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 Tbs vanilla

2 pounds powdered sugar

Whip the cream cheese and butter in a stand mixer until very light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla and mix.  Slowly add the sugar and mix until combined.  I cheated and just used a plastic bag with the corner cut off to pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes.

And because a cupcake just isn't a cupcake without sprinkles, I topped them with some little mini stars.

I was also making a birthday cake for my niece's Tinkerbell part the next day so I decided to use some of the mini cupcakes to make little mushrooms on her fairy cake.