Beet it!

When I was a kid I loved to eat two things way past the point of overkill: Polish dill pickles, and Grandma's home canned beets. I loved the pickles so much that Grandma's usual birthday present to me was a card, a $5 bill, and a big jar of pickles. For the beets, I remember once when she still lived on the farm I ate a whole (quart, I think) jar of her beets at one sitting. Let's just say I have NO controls about food I love---lest you wonder why I'll have to stay on WeWa for the rest of my life.

Every few weeks I buy beets at my veg market...they come in a bunch of 5 to 6, with the tops still on. I don't know anything to do with the tops so I just throw them away. Trim away right at the bottom of the stems, without cutting into the beet itself. Then just lightly scrub the beets with a veg brush and dry them off. Wrap each beet individually in a piece of foil just large enough to cover it all, and put them on a sheet pan. Roast them at 400 degrees until soft enough to feel quite a bit of "give" when you squeeze in the foil---the last ones I fixed took about 45 minutes, but it depends on size. Remove from oven (if some smaller ones finish roasting first, remove them and leave the rest of the pan in the oven) and let them set for a few minutes, then just open up the foil a bit and let them cool down until cool enough to handle. Then I put on my food prep gloves, or else hold a damp paper towel in each hand and peel the skin off each beet. It peels easily, but will stain your hands terribly without gloves or a towel. Now, you might read this and think it's not worth it to go to "all that trouble." I would probably think that. W.R.O.N.G. These are a must-have food, and the ease of everything else far outweighs the hassle of a few seconds of peeling off a little skin. And the taste--------YUM. These are delicious warm, at room temperature, or cold.