“Beetza”, Otherwise Known As The Art of Sharing Imperfect Creative Work

This was supposed to be a KILLER FOOD POST.
Brown Beech Mushrooms & Chard Skillet Tart with Cardamom Spiked Beet Puree.
My quirky take on pizza that’s HEALTHY! PLANT-BASED! GLUTEN-FREE! PALEO! KETO! LOW CARB! AFFORDABLE! BEAUTIFUL!
ALL THE THINGS!!!

But the recipe began morphing into something else entirely when my food processor, otherwise known as Wubbie, aka treasured life companion, went down.
She died.
T’was a painless demise but immediately screwed my plan for herbed-beet puree.
And what of my cassava crust?
Or my cashew cheese?
The horror!

We had already planned to shoot food that day. And worse yet we were also getting hangry.
I am not one of those food bloggers who don’t eat the product.
If I make it, we eat it.

So, in the spirit of “one monkey don’t stop no show”, I began to improvise.
Puff pastry stepped in for cassava crust.
Silky puree morphed into a rustic & chunky beet sauce.
Feta replaced cashew cheese.

Ran to my neighbor’s garden for farm-fresh chard & saw lil’ black grasshoppers had already been feasting. Four meager stalks were all I could muster.

The old Laura Lee would’ve scrapped the entire day, ordered a fat Pizza Hut monstrosity
(or whatever else I had a good coupon for)
& brooded for the rest of the evening with a limp bit o’crust hanging from my lips.

The other option, of course, was to just roll with it, baby.

So here’s the end result.
Are the photos our best work?
No. Not even close. It was an off day by all accounts.
They aren’t the worst, tho.
You will never see our worst.

No longer a vegan, grain-free tour de force, this is something…different.

Now and forever known as BEETZA!

A little less healthy, sure.
These days I don’t strive for perfection.

Great is good enough.
And you know what?
Beetza was still pretty damn good.
Delicious, in fact.