We’re a hummus-loving family. I make it myself sometimes (so easy), but also find myself buying a fair bit of it. Recently I found edamame hummus at Wegmans, and snapped it up in a hurry for my daughter who can almost literally eat her weight in soybeans. It’s delicious, and that pale spring green is really appealing.

Well it follows (maybe) that if green hummus appeals to the mother whose favorite color is green, then pink hummus ought to appeal mightily to the daughter who, when she was three years old, once woke us in the middle of the night to complain that her walls, she had just realized, were not pink.

Recipe #3: Beet Hummus

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1-2 tsp ground cumin

juice of one lemon

1 tsp harissa paste (or other chili paste, or even a pinch of cayenne pepper)

1/4 c. olive oil

2 small beets

salt & pepper to taste

Get out your food processor or sturdy blender, and throw everything in. Pulse until smooth. (or chunky, if that’s your thing.)

Marvel at how pink now seems to go with everything!

This is a little spicy, which I like, but I was skeptical about the girl-child’s willingness to approach. But that color is so persuasive! She walked right up and demanded to know what it was. Wrinkled her nose a little at the word “beet” next to the word, “hummus,” but agreed to try a tiny bit. She proclaimed it “a little spicy but not too spicy.” Yes!

A nice snack, but to make a meal, serve it with some pita and how about those beet greens you reserved (you did, right?) when you were roasting the roots. Get them out of the fridge now.

Recipe #4: Sauteed Beet Greens with Garlic and Crushed Red Pepper

Turns out beets and Swiss Chard are related veggies, and this makes perfect sense once you taste them. You can prepare beet greens the same way you would chard. I start by trimming the tender leaves from the harder ribs. Tear them into bite-size pieces and chop the ribs similarly.

Now, you could go ahead an sautee now, but there is a good chance that the greens will be very bitter. This may be okay with you, but to mellow that out a bit, I suggest blanching them in boiling water for five minutes first. After that, chop a few cloves of garlic. Or maybe even five cloves of garlic. I like garlic.

Heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and a tsp crushed red pepper (or to taste). Add the ribs of the greens first and let them cook for a few minutes before adding the greens.

Sprinkle everything with salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes.

A little green to break up the relentless, if delicious, pink. Some soft pita to tame the still-slightly-bitter green.  A nice, light dinner that riffs on the classic Italian greens presentation and the classic hummus recipe beautifully, satisfyingly, idiosyncratically.

Yes, I just called my dinner “idiosyncratic.” It might be time for a junk food antidote.

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Is there a particular color of food that you won’t touch? My dad, for instance, had issues with “brown food.”