baked beet chips

beets have a special place in my heart. maybe it's the fact that nature produces such a vibrant, radiant, gorgeous shade of pink. or maybe it's because they are so good for you, and i instantly feel better about myself when eating them. but i think it's mostly the fact that you can use them for so many different things - i've put them in cakes, brownies, hummus, and even marinara sauce. today i have a recipe for eating them by themselves...homemade baked beet chips. there's no added sugar [like in a cake], but i promise they won't disappoint!

when i made them recently, i was so excited to sit down for lunch and eat them with my spinach grilled cheese. i mean, i had all the bases covered - carb, protein, vegetable. my meal was colorful [which is always a good sign..unless, of course, the color comes from food coloring] with the green spinach and pink beets. my husband was home for lunch on this particular day [score!] and so i was finishing up in the kitchen while he went ahead and sat at the table. i came to sit down and join him and all the beet chips were gone. gone! disappeared. vanished. just like that. it's like the time my dog ate three batches of chocolate chip cookies in five minutes. but hey...i told you they wouldn't disappoint. apparently the husband's stamp of approval is all over them.

now there are a lot of ways to make beet chips. some people cook them on super low for hours upon hours to dry them out. other people cook them on high for about 30 minutes. other people fry them. my first go at beet chips, i completely burnt the whole batch. so i tried my own method..kind of a mixture of all of them to get results i was pleased with.

baked beet chips

• 3 medium sized beets, washed and peeled
• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt

preheat the oven to 250 F. lay the beets on their side and cut off the ends. then, using a sharp knife or mandolin, cut the beets into slices as thin as you can get them. the thinner, the better. put all the slices in a large plastic bag with 1 tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil. shake them around until they are all coated. spread a piece of parchment paper over a large cookie sheet. place each slice flat on the parchment paper. cook on 250 F for 30 minutes. flip, and cook another 30 minutes. flip one more time to cook 30 minutes again. that's three increments of 30 minutes at 250. next, increase the heat to speed up the cooking - this gets them crispier, faster, but reduces the chance of burning them. put the heat on 325 and cook for 15 minutes. turn the oven off and let sit in the oven for another 15 minutes. 

some slices will be thinner than others, so check periodically as the beets are cooking to make sure they are burning. you may need to take some of the smaller pieces out earlier than the others as they will cook faster.