I know a lot of people are hesitant about "tricking" their kids into eating vegetables by sneaking them into foods that they already love to eat...like brownies. But I am not ashamed of doing this at all. As a Mom to 2 non-meat, non-dairy eating children, I need to get my kids to eat their share of veggies and plant-based proteins. Which is why I put both in our brownies!! I do not hide this fact from my kids though. We talk about food a lot while we are eating it. What is in the food, and what each ingredient does for their bodies. I think it is so important that kids develop this relationship with food. When we ate these brownies tonight we discussed how beets are a vegetable, but they still have sweetness without adding sugar. And also how cool it is that they are slightly dyed pink because of this incredible root vegetable. If beets aren't your thing, add the full 1/2 cup of sugar... it will help mask their signature earthiness a bit more!

I usually have beets cooked in the fridge ready to go for one recipe or another. I like to roast them in the oven at 400 with a drizzle of olive oil on them, wrapped in foil. Once they are cooled, the skins will just fall off when you rub them. You can also make this with raw, peeled beets, but I find that having them roasted brings extra sweetness to the brownies. Besides the beet cook, these brownies take a half hour to prep AND cook, and we usually polish them off in a half hour too ;) which I am okay with, because basically they are just as nutritious as dinner!

kids will loving making these with you...look at the color of the beet and black bean mixture!

healthy (pink) brownies

ingredients:

1 can black beans, rinsed

3 large beets, peeled and cooked (I prefer roasting)

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil

1 cup spelt flour (sub any flour of choice)

1/2 cup cacao powder (sub cocoa powder)

1/4 to 1/2 cup coconut sugar (based on sweetness preference. my family loves these with just 1/4 cup!)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

**optional: 1/2 cup chopped raw walnuts

method:

preheat oven to 350°F. Blend the beans, beets, water and coconut oil in a high powered blender until smooth (about 2 minutes). Pour mixture into a large mixing bowl. Stir the rest of the ingredients into the beet/bean mixture and mix until combined well. If adding walnuts, add now. Pour batter into a greased 9 x 13 inch brownie pan (I like to grease with a little drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil). Bake for 25 minutes, and cool out of the oven for 10 minutes before cutting. Not sure how long these babies keep because they only last 2 days max in this house!