I love beets! I like them in salad, roasted, buttered, pickled, but most especially the following recipe. I found it in a cookbook called “Country Cookin'”, part of the Flavors of America series.
2 cans of beets (or a quart of home-canned sliced or diced beets)
2 T. butter
2 T. flour
1/4 c. lemon juice
1 t. each salt and sugar
Cayenne pepper to taste
Drain beets and save the juice. Melt butter, gradually cream in flour, and add the beet juice little by little until desired consistency. Add a drop of red food coloring if it is not red enough. It should look like red velvet. Add lemon juice, sugar, salt, and cayenne pepper to taste. Blend well and stir in beets, letting the whole mixture simmer until hot and bubbly. Add a little more beet juice (if there is any left) or water if the sauce is too thick; but it should be thick and not runny.
My favorite entrée to serve with the beets is meatloaf.