My version of retail therapy involves the grocery store. Or any food store really. I can’t stop myself from buying things I “need” to have. I must try that umeboshi, that new brand of gluten free cookies, and most of all- wasn’t there some recipe I just really wanted to try? Yea, I should probably buy ingredients for it right now. Lately, I’ve been day dreaming about cakes. So as I stand in the baked goods aisle at Wheatsville, I stare into space and try to recapture the various ingredients to the many things I think sounded good. There’s a lemon almond cake I want to try, a yogurt blueberry cake, a strawberry pie. I need to taste, bake, buy…

I haven’t been cooking much so I have nothing in the house for lunch. I keep needing to stop at the store to buy lunch, and then it inevitably turns into a shopping trip these days. So I now have a TON of ingredients, many ideas, but not a lot of down-time to really concentrate on turning these things into tangible and tasty treats.

However, after another lovely Saturday at the SFC Farmers’ Market at Sunset Valley, a Monday at Wheatsville (and oh a Tuesday and Wednesday too), I do have the right ingredients to make something that’s been on my to-do list for awhile now: roasted beet hummus. This was incredibly simple and it’s a good time to cash in on the last of the beet season. This makes a good potluck item, dip, and it’s oh so beautiful.

Roasted Beet Hummus
3-4 beets (or 3 cups quartered beets)
*1 small clove garlic
1 medium carrot
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons Tahina
3 Tablespoons olive oil
3 Tablespoons beet juice water
1/2-1 teaspoon salt, to taste

To roast the beets: Preheat the oven to 375. Scrub beets, remove their ends, but don’t peel them. If they are bigger than a golf ball, halve or quarter them. Place them in a baking dish and add just enough water to reach 1/4-1/2 inch up the beets (you’ll reserve and then use this juice). Cover tightly with foil and roast for 45-50 minutes or until a knife easily slides in. Set aside and let cool. When cool enough to handle, remove the skin- it should be easy to do with your fingers now.

Combine the garlic, beets, carrot, tahina, and lemon juice in a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the olive oil while the motor is running. Taste for smoothness and texture. Add 1 tablespoon at a time of the beet juice from the baking dish. Blend after each addition until the hummus is the right consistency for you. Add salt to taste.

Stays good in the fridge for a week.

*As hearty as beets are, they can be overpowered very easily. Start with a small clove of garlic, if you feel it needs more, feel free to add another.