Master of Disguise

Thanks to my wonderful mother who spoils the crap out of her, my little Peanut has developed quite the taste for all foods junk related. She loves chips, cookies, ice cream, chocolate milk, and candy. While these foods are ok in moderation in my opinion, it has been quite a struggle to get her to like anything that is healthy for snacks during the day. So I have tried to be creative and disguise some healthier choices as junk food. For chips, we use baked vegetable straws made from spinach and beets. For cookies, chocolate flavored rice cakes. For candy, yogurt covered raisins. And for ice cream, I bought go-gurt tubes and freeze them. She now asks for "ice cream" every night and enjoys the cold yogurt treat. And for juice, I give her half water, half

V-8 fusion, the fruit and vegetable juice. While I know that these are not a substitute for fresh fruits and veggies, they are a great alternative to the junk food that is really bad for her. Does anyone else use any smart mommy tricks to get healthy food and snack into their kids? I would love to know.

Maple Oat Scones with Flax

I don't eat fish. I wish I could but I just don't like the taste. So I am constantly worried about not getting enough Omega-3 fatty acids in my family's diet. I decided to try ground flax seeds after they were recommended to me by my nutrition teacher. I compiled a few different recipes for scones and decided to try the flax seeds out. The end result was delicious. Not super sweet but the glaze on top made them just sweet enough. Peanut and my hubby really loved them as well. Make sure that if you make these, you get ground flax seeds as whole flax seeds are not broken down in the body and you don't get any nutritional value from them. These were also the most sticky things that I have ever made but don't be discouraged. Just make sure your hands, the utensils, and your board are really well floured.

Maple Oat Scones with Flax
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup golden flax seed meal
1 cup quick-cooking oats
4 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. baking powder
4 tbsp. real maple syrup
5 tbsp. butter, cut into small chunks
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans

For Glaze:
1/3 cup powdered sugar
3 tbsp. maple syrup

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Place flour, flax seed meal, oats, sugar, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse several times until the mixture is well blended. Add the maple syrup and butter and pulse until the butter is evenly distributed. Add the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract and process until a sticky dough is formed.

Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface. Place the pecans in the center of the dough and knead well. Divide the dough into two even pieces and pat each into an 8 inch circle. Cut each into 8 triangle wedges.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place the scones on the paper about a half inch apart and bake for 13-15 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool 10 minutes. Whisk together the glaze ingredients and drizzle over the warm scones.

An Effort to Eat More Greens Without A Lot of Green

Now that my daughter is eating more and at regular times, I have decided that I want to try and set a good example for her by making most of our meals from scratch and at home. I also want to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into our diets. You see, when she really didn't eat at all, it was like, just get anything you can into her for some calories, it doesn't matter what it is. Both my husband and myself are guilty of some not so great eating habits. We eat fast food for lunch on a fairly regular basis, him because he doesn't know when or if he is able to take a lunch break since he is on the road for a good part of his day. I eat fast food because when I am out running errands it is just easier to pick something up. Plus I am sure that there is a little bit of "I am pregnant so I can eat anything I want" going through my head when I am in the McDonald's drive through.
I know that fast food is terrible for you and I don't want my daughter to become a victim of the childhood obesity epidemic. So I have set out to start living a healthier lifestyle for her (and her unborn sister). I am not talking low-fat or low-calorie. Just home cooked meals with lots of fruit and vegetables eaten together as a family at the table.
Problem is, healthy food is really EXPENSIVE! That may also be the reason that we eat fast food, because it is cheap. Its so bad but we are not wealthy by any means and every day means living on a budget. Anyway, I came up with a meal plan for the week that included lots of fruits and vegetables and set out today to get all my groceries. Normally I get most of my produce at Wal-mart but most of the time it really lacks in quality and goes bad really fast. And I am really trying to live a "greener" life so Peanut and I went to the local farmer's market this morning to see what we could find.
I really love the idea of buying locally grown produce because I know that the farmers that grow it really put a lot of pride into their products. However, this pride does translate into a higher cost for me. I was planning on making a jelly for homemade scones this week and I needed 4 cups of berries. I was floored when I saw that most booths had berries for $5 a pint! So the jelly idea went out the way. No way I am paying $20 to make jelly. Then I saw that a booth had fresh cauliflower but it was $6 a head! This was crazy talk to me. Suddenly my long list of fresh produce dwindled down to a few things. I did get kohlrabi, carrots, potatoes, fresh peaches from Michigan (they smelled so good), apple wood smoked cheddar cheese from Wisconsin, and fresh baked whole grain bread. It was much pricier than the grocery store but I was happy paying what I did for what I got.
Then we went to the grocery store to get the remainder of our "healthy" ingredients for the week. This grocery trip was about twice as expensive as a normal trip. I did get ground flax seeds, bags of trail mix and nuts, fresh maple syrup, and some other pricier ingredients. I just don't know. I know you can't put a price on the health and well being of your family, but damn, healthy eating sure is expensive.
I think I have learned on my adventures today that I have to take this one step at a time. While I would LOVE to buy almost all of my ingredients from the farmer's market, I know it just isn't going to happen. I still plan on going next week, seeing what they have, seeing what I can afford, and picking the best of that. I still plan on incorporating lots of fruits and vegetables into our diet. I think the most important thing in the coming weeks is going to be eating together as a family whenever we can.

Share your Snacking Ideas

Now that Peanut has decided to get over her hunger strike she has had for the last several months and finally eat the meals I make her, I am now at a loss as to what to feed her for snacks. So I am turning to the Mommy blogosphere to help me out. Please leave a comment and let me know what your kids loved to snack on when they were Peanut's age (22 months). While you are here please come enter my Giveaway. Entries are pretty low and this is my first one so I am hoping to get a good turn out. Thanks!!!!

Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes

Tonight we had my mom, dad, brother, and future sister-in-law over for dinner and I made home made lasagna. For dessert I made awesome Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes I adapted from The Barefoot Contessa and they were a real hit. They were SUPER rich and chocolaty so I would save them for a special occasion. Here is the recipe:

adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

4 eggs, at room temperature

16 oz. Hershey's Chocolate Syrup

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon instant coffee granules

For the Ganache:

1/2 cup heavy cream

8 oz good semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 teaspoon instant coffee granules

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Cream the butter and sugar in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Mix in the chocolate syrup and vanilla. Add the flour and coffee granules and mix until just combined, being careful not to over mix or the cupcakes will be tough.

Scoop the batter into the muffin cups. Fill almost to the top of the muffin cup as the batter will not rise much. Bake for 30 minutes, or until just set. Don't over bake. Let the cupcakes cool in the muffin pan.

For the ganache, cook the heavy cream, chocolate chips, and instant coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water, stirring almost constantly until smooth and warm.

Dip the tops of the cupcakes into the ganache. Do not refrigerate.

Yields 12-18 cupcakes, depending on the size of your muffin pan.

Corn Fritter Casserole

I am going to a bridal shower for my friend Laura today and we were asked to share a favorite recipe with the bride. I decided to share this recipe for Corn Fritter Casserole. It is a really tasty side dish that goes with just about anything, and my family loves it. I though I would share it here so everyone could try it.

Corn Fritter Casserole

adapted from Cooking Light Magazine

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons of butter, softened

3 large egg whites

1 (8 oz.) block cream cheese, softened

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 red bell pepper, finely chopped

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1 can cream-style corn

1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix

1/4 tsp. black pepper

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 F. Combine first 3 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Stir in onion, bell pepper, both canned corns, mixing well. Add muffin mix and black pepper, stirring until well combined. Pour into an 11 x 7 inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375 F for 50 minuters or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.