Preheat oven to 400° F.

Remove stems and most of the roots from beets. Scrub well under running water until clean. Wrap beets in foil and roast in the oven until tender when poked with a knife, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Let cool to room temperature.

Wearing a pair of gloves or plastic bags (so your hands don’t get stained bright red!), remove skin from the beets. Carefully cut beets into four pieces then puree in a food processor until smooth. Measure 3/4 cup of beet puree and freeze the remainder for another use.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and a pinch of salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together beet puree, milk, egg and vanilla. Slowly add flour mixture into beet mixture until just combined. Be careful not to overmix! Fold in blueberries.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium heat. Add a little less than 1/4 cup pancake batter for the ladybug “body” and 1 tablespoon batter (right next to body) for the “head” for each pancake. Once bubbles start to form on the top of the pancakes, flip over and cook until the bottom is golden, about 5 minutes total.

Serve pancakes hot from the griddle with apple “wings,” maple syrup, nut butter or your favorite jam!

Special notes:

Kids will love peeling and chopping the cooked beets — just make sure you’re using gloves and a dark cutting surface so your little people and counters don’t turn bright pink!