Roasted Beet & Sweet Potato Quinoa Chili

I never in a million years thought I would ever like beets. My dad makes pickled beets every year and every year I dreaded pickled beets day because it made the house STINK. Beets smell like dirt, there is no denying that fact. And because of the dirt smell, I always thought beets would taste like dirt and I had no interest in eating them. I owe my new admiration of beets to the blogs I follow everyday. They keep featuring recipes starring beets and I thought, hey, if they can eat them so can I!

And I did just that. I ate a beet. It was a LITTLE dirt-tasting at first, as suspected, but the more I ate them, the more I enjoyed them. Cooking with them is a major pain the butt (because they stain everything purple) but once you get a pair of gloves or some really good dish soap, beets are a great addition to your diet.

Beets are a good source of folacin, vitamin C and potassium. They are also a wonderful source of iron and it has been shown to be an immunity booster and guard against cancer. As an added bonus, beets have ZERO trans fat and ZERO saturated fat (that’s a win-win in my books).

All you really need to do to prepare beets is cut off the ends and roast them in tin foil. How easy is that? In about 45 minutes you have soft little beets to make oodles of things with. Don’t be surprised if whatever you make turns purple. Beets like to steal the show, so they will turn absolutely everything purple.

Beets are available all year round. They remind me of fall though, because of the deep colour. I can’t wait for deep purples, greens, and reds for fall clothing! Which reminds me, is it really September next week?? EEEeeek. Where did summer go!

Roasted Beet & Sweet Potato Quinoa Chili

by Christine Shaver

Prep Time: 45 min

Cook Time: 1 hour

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Ingredients (4-6 servings)

• 2 small/medium size beets
• 1 medium sweet potato
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion
• 1.5 cups vegetable broth
• 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 can 6-bean medley, drained
• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp chili flakes
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• salt and pepper

Instructions

1) Preheat oven to 400C. Cut the ends off of the beets and wrap them separately in tin foil. Peel the sweet potato and dice into cubes. Separate them into two bunches and drizzle a bit of olive oil on top. Wrap them in tin foil. Place tin foil bunches in the oven. Cook sweet potatoes for about 25 min or until soft. Continue to cook the beets for another 20 min (45 min total cooking time). Remove beets from oven and let cool while preparing other ingredients.

2) In a large saucepan, add olive oil to medium heat. Dice onion and add to the oil. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add the vegetable broth, tomatoes, beans, quinoa, paprika, chili flakes, chili powder, garam masala, brown sugar, and season with salt and pepper (about 1/2 tsp each). Heat on medium for about 15 minutes with lid, stirring occasionally.

3) Add the sweet potato cubes to the saucepan. Continue to heat on medium-low while you prepare the beets. To cut the beets, gently use a sharp knife to remove the skin, being careful not to cut off too much of the beet in the process. Once the skin is removed, dice both beets. Add to saucepan and heat for 5 minutes.

4) Remove from heat and let sit, covered, for 5 minutes.

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Are you a beet fan? What’s your favourite way to eat them?

How are you planning to spend the last weekend of summer?