Well, I'm BEET.

I've updated both of the new pages a bit more with some pictures. The recipes will be constantly updated so feel free to check that page often!

I'd like to do a quick workout update. Yesterday, I attended Hip Hop Hustle, which was developed by the same company that created TurboKick. For this reason alone, I had to check out the hip hop class. The only other time I attended a hip hop class at our rec center was five years ago (wow, I'm old) and I was completely unable to follow along. Not only that, but I felt inadequate in front of all of the amazing dancers in the room. Needless to say, I never went back. Until yesterday.

Hip Hop Hustle was surprisingly doable for those of us with little to no dancing skills. Additionally, it was a pretty good workout! I left the room sweating and feeling like I'd worked my legs pretty well. My only complaint was that a lot of the moves were only done using one side of the body (ie: lunges on the left hand side and not on the right). So I guess I'd worked my leg pretty well. Today I felt sore on my left leg and not on my right. I'm not sure how I feel about that. However, I think I'm going to give it another shot next week for the sole reason that it was actually a lot of fun.

Back to the beets...

I made some beet burgers, similar to the homemade veggie burgers I made awhile ago.

Not only did they look nice, they really stayed together well. And of course, they are full of protein. And they are delicious. Don't these burgers sound like the best thing since sliced bread? (Heh, get it?)

AND they include hemp seeds. I finally found some! At Whole Foods. Where else? If I had a chance, I'd live in that store.

Beet Burgers

Ingredients: (Makes four)

• 1 1/2 beets, cooked
• fresh spinach (about a handful)
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon hemp seeds
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 1/2 can kidney beans, mashed
• olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 green chili
• coconut milk (carton, unsweetened)
• salt/pepper to taste

Combine the oats, flour, and nutritional yeast in a bowl.

Add the chopped beets and hemp seeds.

Saute garlic and green chilis in some olive oil.

Add the spinach to the pan and allow it to shrink a little. In the mean time, add the mashed kidney beans to the first mixture in the bowl. Then add the entire bowl to the pan.

Add a splash of coconut milk to the mixture with some salt and pepper and then form the patties.

Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes, flipping the burgers after about 15 minutes.

And there you have it!

For my burger ensemble, I melted some gouda atop two of the patties.

I put the patties inside two slices of toasted Ezekiel bread (spread with some Smart Balance), with fresh spinach, pickles, and a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette.

You can definitely taste the beet in the burger, which is the best part! I would highly recommend making a big batch and then freezing the extra burgers for convenient meals. I would have done this, but I'm pretty sure I'll be "beet"ed out by the end of this week. (Hah).