Beet-Mashed Potatoes, Leftover Grilled Vegetables, Corn off the Cob

From last week's beet appetizer, I had some of the beet reduction left. I had the idea to make mashed potatoes and mix the reduction in. I also mixed in about half of a small shallot, diced to about 1/4" x 3/8" pieces, Earth Balance margarine, and salt, and I garnished it with a chive sprig. It ended up tasting quite remarkable, better and different than I had imagined. I'm at a loss of words to characterize the flavor, but it was like a rich mashed potato with a strong overtone of some other appealing flavor, not of beet. Wow!

I also reheated the grilled vegetables from last Thursday and grilled corn on the gas range. As usual, I mixed in fresh lime, Earth Balance, and salt; I also added in about a quarter of a jalapeno pepper, diced to less than 1/4" cubes.

I had to go back to the July 19th blog entry to remember that the cracker I served is a low-fat (and delicious!) millet and flax garlic "chip". I have to figure out where I purchased it from as I want to make it a regular in my pantry!