Tangy and sweet; caramelized beets are a wonderful way to expose your students to this earthy vegetable!
This is a winter school food service recipe for beets.
Cooking and prep level: Basic.
Adapted from Epicurious.com
- Prep Time26 hr
- Cook Time1 hr
- Total Time27 hr
- Yield50
- Serving Size2.5 oz
- Energy70 cal
- HAACP Process2
Ingredients
- 8 lbs Beets, raw, peeled and cut into large cubes
- 1 cup Oil, olive, salad or cooking
- 6 lbs Onions, raw, cut into small wedges
- 2 tsp Salt, sea or corse
- 5 tsp Rosemary, dried
- 5 tsp Thyme, dried
- 1 tbsp pepper, black ground
- 1 cup Vinegar, balsamic
Method
CCP: Preheat oven to 350 F.
Combine beets with onion wedges on sheet pans. Toss to mix.
Drizzle oil & then vinegar over the veggies.
Sprinkle Rosemary, Thyme, salt & pepper evenly over mixture.
Toss well to distribute ingredients evenly.
Roast for approximately 60 minutes, tossing ingredients and rotating pans every 15 minutes.
*When rotating, be sure to toss the beets to receipt with the vinegar & oil mixture.
Beets should be softened and just beginning to caramelize when done.
CCP: An internal temp of 140 F should be maintained for 15 seconds.
CCP: Hold at 135 F through service.
Toss before serving.
February Promotions Ideas for Beets:
If your students aren’t eating your HOTM monthly veggies providing a little fun on your lunch lines and education to improve your customer response could be the boost your program needs to succeed!
Let’s face it, beets are not an easy sell to school-age children. Building a celebration sprinkled with fun education can influence your students and help to gain acceptance of these earthy beauties! Here are a few examples of this technique.
Beets utilized as a dye or as a temporary tattoo:
Cutting beets into simple shapes and using them as a stamp is a great way to decorate serving lines and signage. You can create a temporary tattoo for students that is a safe and fun way of sharing this red vegetable.
“Will You Beet My Valentine?” This is a fun and inexpensive way to promote your February Harvest of the Month. Create a theme lunch for younger students, such as k-5 with a sweetheart beet promotion!
“With Every Beet of My Heart” is a wonderful way to tie beets to that popular February holiday! Create signage in the form of giant valentines to paper your wall space using beet stamps cut into the shape of hearts. Veggie Love Is In the Air!
Utilizing a Valentine theme can provide a fun learning opportunity in the lunchroom and in the classroom. Themed lunch celebrations also increase participation numbers, which is something we can all appreciate!
“Pickle Me Pink!”
Sharing how foods were preserved in the past by pickling beets, sharing education on the preserving process and adding them to a themed “Veggie Love” celebration may be the catalyst you need to encourage kids to taste of something new. Our Quick Pickled Beets recipe can take center stage in salad bars and sandwich lunches in February!
Nutrition Facts
- 50 servings per container
- Serving Size2.5 oz
- Amount per serving
- Calories70
- % Daily Value*
- Total Fat4.4 g5.64%
- Saturated Fat0.6 g3%
- Trans Fat0 g
- Sodium123 mg5.35%
- Total Carbohydrate6.9 g2.51%
- Dietary Fiber1.5 g5.36%
- Total Sugars4.3 g