Deceptive Update

I promised an update of how our new deceptively healthy lifestyle is going and I'm happy to report that its going really well so far. The boys eat nearly everything that I give to them and I've eaten most of it too :)

Breakfast foods have been the biggest hit because they're really quick and easy and most of it was what we were eating anyway with a little tweak here and there. The number one favorite is Sweet Potato Pancakes. We all love them! Instead of pouring syrup I use applesauce and the boys enjoy dipping their pancakes in the applesauce. I made the oatmeal recipe with pumpkin the other day and it was just like eating candy! No joke.
Applesauce muffins were just ok, I made them with a butternut squash. They were really moist and the crumb topping was good, but they were just too bland for me. I think if I make them the next time I'll use a chunky cinnamon applesauce to give a little more texture and sweetness to them. We've done the French Toast with pumpkin a couple of times and they're really good, but you do need syrup and not applesauce to eliminate the pumpkin. I've still got some other muffin recipes to try. One thing I've done on my own is made applesauce waffles which are delicious. Instead of adding 1.5 cups of water to my waffle mix I put in 1 cup and .75 cup of applesauce and they are so moist and yummy!


Mealtimes are going relatively well. The thing I'm trying to figure out is how to put a little more flavor into some of the dishes. For instance, we made "Aloha Chicken Kabobs" with pineapple puree and sweet potato puree as part of the egg wash before dipping in the breadcrumbs. Surprisingly they were kind of bland, we thought a sauce to dip it in would make them really good. So if anyone has any ideas of a sweet tangy sauce let me know!
We're making beef stew with broccoli puree tomorrow for dinner.
I made "pita pizzas" with spinach puree covered by tomato sauce and cheese & it was really hard for me to get past the spinach, Tyler ate these relatively well, Bryce didn't like them.
Homemade mac n cheese with butternut squash was a huge success, except it doesn't reheat very well.
We had cheese quesadillas with carrots and that was good. I also did Grilled Cheese with both butternut squash and sweet potato and both times I made them the boys loved them, but Marc & I didn't. They were definitely edible, but needed to be dunked in tomato soup to hide the squash.
We all loved the taco meat which had carrot puree in it and I also cooked the beef in crushed tomatoes. The boys couldn't eat it fast enough! And there was lots of it for leftovers.
Turkey chili was really good too made with ground turkey, red pepper puree and carrot puree. We served it over baked potatoes with cheese and it was really flavorful and not spicy which I was worried about.
On my own, I made chicken enchilladas and hid cauliflower in th sauce (cream of chicken soup, sour cream, cheese & various seasonings)

For desserts I've been somewhat disappointed, but I've only made a few of the recipes so its not an entirely fair representation. I made the brownies with spinach and carrots and even frosting didn't take the bitterness away. I didn't know if it's because I cooked the spinach too long before pureeing it or what. I'm not sure if I'll make it again.
Chocolate peanut butter dip with carrot puree was pretty good, and the kids loved dipping their apples in it...but its a mess!

So anyway! That's what we've been up to. I haven't made dinners every night from her recipe book but overall I would say its been worth my while. Sometimes its hard to get motivated to do more pureeing so I try to just do a little at a time, but its nice to be able to stick them in the freezer and have a nice selection to choose from. What has been important to me has been to get my family to eat more vegetables and we've been very successful at that. Now....to start exercising :)