CrankyCakes

Yesterday, Z. and I were walking downtown and he announced, “Mommy, the days when you are frustrated with me are OVER and I’m going up the mountain I’m going to climb the rocks WAY UP HIGH.  But you are the best snuggler in the world and so I’ll stay with you forever.”

Love is complicated, but your root vegetables don’t have to be. Give this a try:

Roasted Beets

• Small to medium whole beets, skins left on but greens and long roots removed.
• A tablespoon of olive oil.

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Oil a half-sheet or other rimmed baking pan well.
3. Place beets on it.  Cover with a second pan.
4. (Alternately, you could wrap each one individually in foil and place them directly on the top oven rack with a baking sheet on the rack below it to catch the drips.)
5. Bake for 1 – 1 1/2 hours, until the beets are easily pierced with a fork.

Then you can slice them for salads, or puree them for soup (my friend Dannah just posted on Facebook that the “easiest beet soup in the world” is pureed roasted beets processed with kefir or buttermilk).

I made this salad for lunch today: greens with marinated tofu and the beets, spritzed with rice vinegar and olive oil and sprinkled with gomasio.  What I really wanted was gobs of goat cheese, but I’m back on the Bittman plan, and so righteous tofu it was.