Just beet it! (part 1)

Haha, sorry, just had to put that in there :) And no, not to disappoint you, but this will not be a post about Michael Jackson. It will, however, be a post about BEETS! (Actually, a 3 part series!)

My next door neighbor (and friend) offered me her beets from her CSA box this week. (CSA= community supported agriculture. It means that you pay up front for a set number of weeks of produce. A great way to support local farms, especially if you can't grow your own.) In the past I had been "sneaky" and put beets into a few recipes (mint brownies or used in place of eggs when making chicken strips) but I really didn't know what I wanted to do with them. Enter a google search :)

I decided on a chocolate mousse pie, beet chips and sneaky brownies with beets added, for Leah to take to a Bible study. If I can fool teens, I'm happy  =)

To be honest, I wasn't a huge fan of the pie. I could taste the beets and it was so chocolatey I felt sick! But, my dad and step-mom and some friend's kids liked it, so who knows! The beet chips were the best texture of any chip I have made yet. I will definitely try this format with regular potatoes and sweet potatoes. The brownies also turned out awesome, nice and fluffy and not beet-y at all :)

Chocolate Mousse Pie (with some alterations)

1 c Bob's Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose flour (you can def use regular)
1/4 c coconut oil (frozen)
2 T cocoa powder
4 T sugar
5-6 T cold water

Combine first 3 ingredients in mixing bowl. Slowly integrate coconut oil until the batter resembles bread crumbs. Then slowly add water and stir until make a good dough. (Be careful to not add too much water! I did and I think that's why it was so sticky!) Refrigerate about 1/2 an hour then roll out to fit your pie pan. I rolled it between parchment paper, and glad I did because it was sticky! I added too much water :(  Bake at 210 for 10 minutes and cool completely.

1/2 c beet puree
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

To make beet puree you can either wash and roast beets or wash and boil them. I chose to boil (2 beets made about 1 c puree) and it took a long time for them to get soft, so you might actually want to do this first. Then puree in blender or food processor.

Slowly melt chips using double boiler method (I used a glass bowl on top of a pot with slightly boiling water.)

Then add beet puree and mix well. It takes a bit to get it combined really well.

Pour chocolate mixture into crust and refrigerate until set.