Not only are beets loaded with vitamins A, B1, B2, B6 and C, they look pretty too! Lola was beyond excited to see that her pancakes (for dinner) were her favorite color. Cool Mom award goes to me.

I like my beets roasted, raw in a salad, juiced, and now pureed into this moist not overly sweet pancake.

What other ways do you have for adding in fruit and vegetables to your meals?

* I did not have quinoa flour on hand. Take one cup of quinoa, toast for 5 minutes in pan over medium heat, transfer to high powered blender or food processor, blend for several minutes to create flour consistency. This works with most grains. I have made oat and millet flour by doing this as well. Also, substituting another flour would work: all-purpose, barley, whatever you have in the kitchen.

adapted from GOOD to the GRAIN by Kim Boyce

3 medium-small red beets
butter for the pan
1/2 cup quinoa flour * see note above
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups whole milk (I did not have whole, I used 2% with a tablespoon of sour cream)
1/3 cup plain yogurt (greek would work too)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the beets in a baking dish, fill with 1/2 cup of water, cover, and roast until tender, about 1 hour. Cool, peel, and puree. As this produced more than what I needed, I froze the leftover for another day.

Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, yogurt, melted butter, egg, and 1/2 cup of pureed beet until smooth. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently combine.

Heat your cast-iron pan (any pan will work, but if you have a cast-iron, use it, does great things to pancakes) over medium heat. Once hot, rub the pan generously with butter. Drop 1/4 cup of batter onto the pan. I was able to get 3 pancakes on at a time. Once you can see bubbles, flip over and cook for another 5 minutes. Transfer to the oven and continue. Each new batch, rub a little bit more butter to the pan.

Serve warm with maple syrup.

With leftovers, freeze individually and store. Warm up in toaster oven.

BEET and quinoa pancakes