beat·nik/ˈbētnik/
Noun: A young person in the 1950s and early 1960s belonging to a subculture associated with the beat generation.

A play on words with beet and beat. In this case it has to do with a cake.  I'd seen  it first at Tiger in a Jar. Intrigued, I had to try it.   There are many recipes that use veggies in an unusual way. Zucchini bread, bean pie, banana bread, carrot cake, sweet potato pie (my favorite) and the list goes on.

I used the recipe at Southern Food About.


BEETNIK CHOCOLATE CAKE
Cook Time: 30 minutes


Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
•2 cups all-purpose flour
•1 1/2 teaspoons soda
•1/2 teaspoon salt
•1 1/2 cups sugar
•1/2 cup cocoa powder
•3 large eggs, beaten
•1 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, Canola or corn oil
•1 1/2 cups grated cooked beets
•2 teaspoons vanilla
•powdered sugar, optional

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine flour, soda, salt, sugar and cocoa in a bowl; set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine the eggs and oil. Beat in vanilla and continue beating until well blended. Slowly beat in dry ingredients until well mixed; stir in beets. Pour into a greased and floured 9x13-inch baking pan. Bake at 350° for 25 to 35 minutes, or until cake bounces back when touched lightly with finger.

Cool in pan on a rack. Frost cooled cake or dust with powdered sugar.

As usual, I gathered the crew so I'd make sure I had all I needed before getting started. 

In a bowl I placed the dry ingredients: sifted flour,soda,salt and cocoa powder. I put it aside.

I bought two cans of beets and needed both.

The pureed beets are  such a pretty color.

After combining and mixing everything thoroughly I poured it into a 9x13 inch greased and floured pan. The batter has just a slight pinkish tinge to it.

After baking at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes I had a wonderful cake. I wish I could show you the cake before I cut it but, the aroma, anxiousness and salivating took over.

This cake was scrumptous. There was no taste of beets. This might be a good way to get in those veggies that some of us aren't that fond of.

I was so proud of myself because I'd actually made a cake from SCRATCH!

Whoopee!

I didn't eat the whole thing. I shared a couple of slices with my nephew whom I didn't tell that it contained beets until after he'd eaten it. He too said it was delicious and said he was glad I didn't tell him ahead of time that it had been made with beets. 

 The rest of the cake has been cut in squares, wrapped and placed in a ziplock bag in the freezer.

I understand that there is also an alternate recipe where beets take the place of carrots in the cake and some of the beet juice is used to color the cream cheese frosting.

That's It***

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

 Many people try to limit the number of carbs (carbohydrates) that they have in their meals.The only problem is that you then limit all of the comfort foods such as mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, pastas, potatoes, rice. More than once I've seen recipes for cauliflower mashed potatoes and cauliflower rice. Not until recently did I see a recipe for cauliflower pizza. Several reviewers stated how delicious it was and how they didn't feel guilty eating it. Being that I had cauliflower I'd gotten out of the quick sale bin at the market, I decided to try it.

I got the recipe from Piehole another blogger who apparently enjoys pies of all types and cooking.  Pizza is in the category of  pies.  Dean Martin  and others have sung about it.

 "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore."

Here's the recipe

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

*2C riced cauliflower

*1t garlic salt

*1/2t italian seasoning

*1 egg white

*1/2C reduced fat mozzarella cheese

*toppings of your choice, also remember if you add more cheese on top to count it! (Yeh, right)

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 425.

2. Cut cauliflower into small chunks and pulse in food processor until rice like consistency is met. It should look almost identical to rice.

3.Place in microwave safe bowl (after ricing) with plastic wrap on top and microwave for 1-2 minutes.

4. Mix cauliflower with remaining ingredients.

5. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray and form mixture into desired shape (spray it WELL, it has a tendency to stick).

6. Make sure its not too thin, somewhere around 1/4 an inch thick.

7. Bake for 15 minutes until slightly browned.

8. Remove and add your sauce and toppings.

9. Bake for another 5-10 minutes to melt cheese and cook toppings. You can also broil it at this stage if the edges of the pizza are looking too dark.

Cauliflower has a strong smell after being cooked so you may want to employ the crew below.


Odor reducers



 

As you can see I've placed the cauliflower in my food processor and reduced it a little at a time into the consistency of rice. Actually it looks more like coconut to me.

I ended up with far more than two cups of cauliflower.  It's in a microwave safe bowl. I placed it in the microwave with its matching top for 4 minutes instead of the 2 as suggested by the recipe since I had more than two cups.

 

While the cauliflower was in the microwave I placed a sheet of foil on a baking sheet then sprayed the foil well with cooking spray. The directions stated that it has a tendency to stick.

After removing the cauliflower from the microwave I measured out two cups, placed it in a mixing bowl along with garlic powder (I didn't have garlic salt) ,Italian seasoning, egg white and mozzarella cheese. I used the amounts listed in the recipe above.

I did most of the mixing with gloved hands.  I have shaped the "dough" into a crude square on the baking sheet

 This is the "dough" after being baked for 15 minutes in a preheated 425 degree oven. It did brown a little around the edges.

I'd been to ALDI on yesterday and picked up a package of yellow, red and green peppers. The yellow and red are so sweet. My toppings included about 1/2 cup of each of these peppers, 1 slice turkey bacon, 1 1/2 oz of turkey sausage,  and onions. I cooked everything a little  since all ingredients probably won't cook at the same rate when I place them on the pizza dough.

what beautiful color



After placing the sauteed toppings on the crust, I put jarred spagetti sauce on top and then put it back in the oven for about 10 minutes.



plated cauliflower pizza

There are probably a couple of things you're thinking .

a. I should have put the sauce on first and then the toppings.  

b. I should have used real pizza sauce.

It wouldn't have made much difference because the "dough" was not very solid. Sure it tasted fine but I tested a piece before adding the toppings and it wasn't firm even after I ran it back into the oven to cook a little longer. Therefore I put the toppings first and then the sauce so it wouldn't disintegrate completely when I got ready to serve it.

Since I still have cauliflower left over, I'll try it again.  At this point I'd have to say I wasn't bowled over by this recipe. Then again I'm not a chef.

THAT'S IT***