You're wanting me to... beet it, beet it!

Lettuce turnip the beet and dance.

I'm dropping fresh beets, yo.

Okay, okay. I'm done with the beet puns and word-play for now. But, seriously - this beet pesto is amazing, easy to make, and super versatile too! Plus, I mean... look at that color. With Valentine's Day creeping up on us already, this would be a perfect thing to make and use around the day of love.

This beet pesto is full of flavor too; it's a little sweet, a little earthy, and super delicious. I recently this year became a beet fan, so I've been trying to come up with fun ways to use them. Especially with February coming up, beets are the perfect natural red and/or pink food coloring.

That's not all either. Other than the beautiful color they bring to the table, beets are surprisingly healthy for you. They help lower blood pressure and are full of antioxidants, folic acid and are a very good source of fiber, manganese and potassium. Plus, they also stimulate the liver's detoxification processes. Detoxification in the form of a pesto? Sounds perfect to me!

To lighten this pesto up a bit more, I substituted out some of the oil for water and used a lower fat parmesan cheese. Other than that, with such few ingredients, there isn't really much else you can do to make this pesto any lighter - not that it needs to be anyway.

While I used pine nuts in my pesto, any other nut could almost be used as a substitute here. So, if you're more of a cashew or pistachio person feel free to give it a try and make this pesto your own.

I used my beet pesto as the 'sauce' on a nice little pizza, but you could really use it just about anywhere that you would use any other pesto; atop a crostini, in a pasta dish, or a pizza!

Skinny Beet Pesto
TheSkinnyFork.com

The Skinny:
Servings: 12 • Size: About 2 Tbsp. • Calories: 91.6 • Fat: 8.4 g • Carb: 3.6 g • Fiber: 0.8 g • Protein: 1.4 g • Sugar: 1.1 g • Sodium: 65.5 mg

Ingredients:
1 C. Beets, Peeled & Cubed
3 Garlic Cloves
1/2 C. Pinenuts
1/2 C. Grated Fat Free Parmesan
1/4 C. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 C. Water
2 Tbsp. Fresh Lemon Juice
Salt & Pepper to Taste

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. and wash and scrub the beets.

Chop the beets into 1" cubes and wrap in foil; place in the oven to bake for about 50 minutes or until the beets are tender.

Remove the beets from the oven and allow them to cool completely.

All all the ingredients into a food processor; blend to desired consistency.

Use right away or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

I used mine on this yummy beet pesto pizza with baby spinach, baby kale, fat free ricotta, and reduced fat feta - all on a wheat crust. Yum!