Beet Hummus

Hi everyone,
I've been having a great summer full of cooking and baking using my CSA vegetables and fruit, so I decided to start contributing to the recipe blog. I live in Center City Philadelphia with my husband and four-year-old daughter. We get a full share of vegetables, a fruit share, and eggs and milk from the buying club. We love Lancaster Farm Fresh!

I have about four bags of beets in my fridge right now, so I needed a way to use some since more are coming this week. I found this recipe on Simply Recipes and thought it sounded interesting; I wasn't sure how it'd taste, but I was willing to try it. It's delicious! I love the fact that it can be frozen and I told my daughter it was Pinkalicious Dip, which convinced her it was worth a try.

Beet Hummus
Yield: 2.5 cups
Adapted from Simply Recipes.

Ingredients
3/4 lb. beets (about 5 medium sized beets), scrubbed clean, cooked, peeled, and cubed*
3 T. tahini (Sesame Paste)
5 T. lemon juice
1 large clove garlic, chopped
1 1/2 T. ground cumin
1 T. lemon zest (zest from approx. 2 lemons)
Generous pinch of Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper to taste

*To cook the beets, I use Mark Bittman's roasted beets recipe. Wrap a few beets (unwashed, uncut) in aluminum foil. Make as many packets as you need for the beets you're roasting; each packet of beets should be similarly sized. I usually put 3-4 beets in one packet. Place your aluminum foil packets of beets on a baking sheet and bake at 375°F for about an hour, or until easily penetrated with a knife or fork. Once the beets have cooled, the skin will peel off easily.

Directions
1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings and ingredients as desired.
2. Chill and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze for longer storage.

We ate this with flatbread, baby carrots, and the baby bell peppers that were in our share last week.