Beet Sandwiches

I had a great summer week! In spite of the speeding ticket, yelling, and this crazy, hot weather, I enjoyed it immensely. Monday and Tuesday were work days, but they went fast and the rest of the week was pure summer bliss. Fourth of July hang time with good friends, yoga, bike rides, gym, Costco/Best Buy/Target date trips with DFJ, lots of cooking and baking (yes, we are crazy for turning the oven on in this 3-digit weather), getting blog posts ready for this week, helping my friend, Heidi, move rocks, putting together a thousand piece puzzle, reading, and at the same time doing nothing! Summer, I love you! ß Hmmm… lots of commas there.

Anyway, DFJ felt like baking these superb cookies this afternoon and our apartment felt like a sauna. I’m not complaining, I had my fair share of cookies today.

To offset the rich, chocolatey-sugary babies, we enjoyed some beet sandwiches for appetizers.

 
Meg, thank you so much for choosing a very interesting recipe for The Food Matters Project this week. Even though our oven had been on for quite a while today, it was worth it to turn it up another notch to bake the beets and make these beautiful sandwiches.

I fell in love with these beet sandwiches. They are delicious and too gorgeous for words. My pictures and presentation don’t even do them any justice. So please hop on over to the FMP website to see what other members did and drool over their pictures. For the original Mark Bittman recipe, visit Meg’s lovely website, My Wholefood Romance.    

First, let’s talk about the filling. Here’s what I had in mine:

3 cups spinach
1 cup roasted and salted pistachios, shelled (I would have shelled more but my thumbs gave up)
4 ounces goat cheese
6 tbsp olive oil
 
Just throw everything in the blender and voila, you get a delicious and versatile filling. The combination of everything was so good! If you're not a big fan of spinach, no worries, the pistachio and good cheese flavors are so distinct, you won't even know there's a ton of Popeye's leaves in there. This filling would be so perfect as a dip for raw vegetables or crackers, bruschetta topping, spread for deli sandwiches, and even as a pizza sauce! I have a huge bowl left and can’t wait to use it for any of these other purposes.

As for the beets, I simply sliced them thin, tossed them with a bit of olive oil and salt, and roasted them in the oven at 400 degrees F for about 15 minutes. My beets didn’t turn out like crispy chips, but they were still great with the filling. Beets can be eaten raw or cooked. I love its distinct flavor… when eaten raw, it is slightly sweet, refreshing, and lends a bitter aftertaste; when eaten cooked, it is delicious and lends a full taste of earthy sweetness.

Take these beets to a summer party and I guarantee that these will win the best hors d’oeuvres award!  

Have a great week everyone! Stay hydrated and don’t forget to put that sunscreen on. And… eat lots of vegetables (i.e. beets and spinach) it’s good for our skin!