Deceptively Delicious

I have been on a mission to get my daughter to eat more veggies. When she was a baby, she did great, never had a problem until after her first birthday: she has refused, spat out, and thrown her "oh so healthy veggies" on the floor. Having a love for nutrition, I knew I cannot allow my daughter's diet to consist of cheerios, crackers, oatmeal and yogurt. I need to feed her nutrient-dense food because it vital to her growth and development! I had purchased this book before I had a baby because I had a sweet tooth and wanted a way to make desserts healthier. So the premise behind this book is that you make a whole bunch of purees ahead of time, say at the beginning of the week, and 'sneak' them into food through out the week (freeze some right away or any leftovers). I must admit it is a bit time consuming, but there are great benefits from it. I think the ideal situation is if you already had an infant on purees and older children; that way you can make a huge batch and feed everyone. So far she has liked my creations, but I am still introducing veggies (not pureed) to her because my end goal is to get her to eat the real thing, and not making purees her whole childhood. But for now it works :)

 This post is mainly of pics of what I have made and for some inspiration if you are going through something similar with your kiddo(s). Jessica Seinfield (yes this is Jerry Seinfield's wife, and she of course has lots of time to be making purees, lol) has a second book which I own as well called "Double Delicious".

Purees finished, cooling

Froze half right away in 1/2 cup portions

She gives you lots of instructions on which cooking method is best for each vegetable.

spinach being mixed into blueberry jam....shhhhhh

Blueberry Oatmeal Bars...they are of coffee shop quality! 

Blueberry Lemon Muffins with summer squash puree

Green Eggs with spinach puree (there is another variation of  this with
cauliflower puree in case you don't want the color to change)

French Toast with either banana, sweet potato,
carrot, butternut squash, or pumpkin puree; lots of choices, made mine with banana

Sweet Potato Maple Quinoa (my daughter didn't like the texture too much)
I also made sweet potato oatmeal & sweet potato pancakes that I didn't get to take a picture of.

Such a pretty vibrant color! Beet Pancakes

Disclaimer: these had a distinct beet flavor, but if your kids don't like
beets too much you can drown them in maple syrup & they taste
like regular pancakes, just a tip ;)

My daughter's absolute favorite: Pita Pizza. Sneaked spinach puree underneath
the pizza sauce. Another combo I did was beet & spinach and she gobbled it up! 

Tortilla "Cigars" with shredded chicken breast,
carrot puree & cheddar cheese

Chicken & Rice Soup with cauliflower and carrot puree...its was
a really 'homey' soup, I made home-made
chicken broth which gave it
a lot of flavor.

And that was one a tiny glimpse of all her recipes! I still have more recipes to try like tomato soup with broccoli puree, apple crumble with butternut squash puree, chocolate yogurt cheesecake with carrot puree, huevos rancheros with cauliflower puree, chicken enchiladas with spinach puree, gnocchi with sweet potato puree, and oatmeal raisin cookies with banana & zucchini puree! The dishes shown above & the ones I still plan to make are were taken from both books. (just so you know ;)

ENJOY!

RAW Carrot Chewies

These are SO delicious, I make them weekly! Great snack with a nice protein punch!

I absolutely LOVE peanut butter. We were playing a couples game one New Years and it was on how well you know your spouse. One questions was what is your spouses' favorite food. Yep, my husband guessed that one right: PEANUT BUTTER! Now mind you, I get the natural kind with no added oils, sugars, preservatives, etc. Found one that I like at Costco, ingredients: peanuts, sea salt, that's it!

Here is a great article on the health benefits of peanuts:

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=101

Great website with lots of info on the world's healthies food & how to prepare it. Have that guy's book too!

1/4 cup low-fat granola

1 Tbsp honey or maple syrup

1/4 cup carrots, finely shredded

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup raisins

1 Tbp wheat germ

3/4 cup natural peanut butter

~in smal bowl, combine all ingredients

~form into small balls

tip: after adding the PB to the mix I popped it into the microwave for 15 sec to softned the PB making it easier to stir everything together & it worked great!



'Better than Peanut Butter & Jelly' by Wendy Muldawer & Marty Mattare

I was trying to debate if I should raise Audriana (and future kiddos) vegetarian. Finished reading another book 'Disease-Proof Your Child' by Joel Fuhrman which really stressed a plant-based diet, and the ill-effects of meat & dairy. That got the wheels turning because he backed his data with scientific research; I did a library search on how to raise vegetarian children and this book came up. It is a cookbook with quick, easy & nutritious vegetairan recipes that children will like (and the whole family for that matter). This is the 1998 versions, there is an updated edition (2006) but my library did not have it. I really liked this book and the beauty of it is that the older version is under $1 (minus S&H) on Amazon :) 

Home-Made CLIFF bars...phenominal!

I got this recipe from one of the blogs that I follow, Enlightened Cooking! I have made Lara Bars from it too, which are under 5 ingredients, and those bars are pretty pricey at the store. Plus, just like you can with these bars, there can be SO many different variations. Whatever you are in the mood for, or have in your pantry! The recipe comes together in minutes!!

I made cranberry chocolate chip, using sunflower seed butter as the base. You can use any nut butter you like. I also use brown rice syrup to make it all stick together. Apparently honey won't do the job. I bought the syrup at Whole Foods, it's taste is a cross btwn honey & maple syrup

Mixing it all together

so so good!

p.s. the link to the recipe is avaliable when you click on 'Enlightened Cooking', in case you were not aware ;)

and she has lots of nice pictures too

Energy Mix...Extra Lean Style

1/4 cup walnut halves

1/4 cup slivered almonds

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup whole grain cereal

2 Tbsp. sunflower seeds

~combine all ingredients & mix

~divide into 6 equal portions & distribute into resealable plastic bags

serving size: 2 heaping tablespoons

calories: 146 kcal

fiber: 2g

protein 4g

I read Mario Lopez's book 'Extra Lean' & 'Extra Lean Family'.

Just randomly stumbled upon it and was surprisingly good!

His basic principles were:

1. Balance your daily intake of carbs, protein, and fat (and yes eat EACH!)

2. Practice proper portion control

3. Eat frequently throughout the day

(snack btwn breakfast & lunch, and 2 snacks btwn lunch & dinner)

Nothing new right? It just helped remind me in my post-partum period TO EAT properly!

I felt like I was stuck with the 'last 10 lbs' and I couldn't understand why; but then I

re-evaluated how I was eating and I figured it out. I was grazing the whole day (yes it was on whole grain crackers and other 'relatively healthy food' but it was nothing substantial, and then I felt like I over-ate at dinner because of it. Most of the book is recipes and weekly meal plans. After trying the first week, following it to a T, I lost 3lbs (this was with occasional exercise, and lots of running up & down the stairs). Wow I thought to myself, what and how we eat directly impacts our health & well-being!

Just another friendly reminder ;)