Deceptively Nutritious

After we put the kids to bed Sunday night, I asked Mike, "Do you want to do what Jerry Seinfeld is doing tonight?" He looked at me a little suspiciously so I told him that on Sunday nights after his kids are in bed, Jerry is in the kitchen keeping his wife company as she purees veggies to put in their unsuspecting kids' food.

Mike did not jump at the opportunity so I went ahead with the process on my own. But he came in to the kitchen part-way through, started washing his hands, and asked what he could do. After my polite, "Oh, that's okay, honey, don't worry about it," was rebuked and a second offer extended, I quickly accepted and delegated some duties!

I have had Deceptively Delicious, the cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld, for going on two years. I've looked through it on several occasions, but the puree-ing process seemed too daunting to me. Something got into me recently though, whether it was frustration over Kyle not eating, or the Halls eating so healthfully, or something else, I'm not sure, but I decided to give it a try. So I bought vegetables I never buy, including some I don't even like (beets, gag!), then roasted and steamed my little heart out and this was the result:


Look at those bright colors! It just screams "Healthy!" Doesn't it?


I started out following Jessica's (we're on a first name basis) advice of putting the purees in storage baggies, but I found that to be very messy so I got out my muffin tins and discovered that they hold approximately 1/4 cup, which was just the amount I needed, woohoo! I poured my purees in the tins and put them in the freezer. Once frozen, I put the muffin tins into a casserole dish of very shallow warm water, just for a few seconds, so the purees would pop out easily. Then I put the little portions directly into gallon-sized freezer bags like this:

Now I have several 1/4 cup portions of the following: cauliflower, butternut squash, carrots, beets, broccoli, and yellow squash. (I did need to do it in stages due to freezer space and muffin tin availability, but I just refrigerated the purees until needed).

I did it all in two batches. The first batch took me about an hour and that was with Mike helping. The second batch took me over two hours and that was by myself. So a helper is definitely great!

Speaking of getting on random food kicks...does anyone remember I was going to do the Aldi Queen's menu/shopping plan? Umm, yeah, never happened. However, I am still shopping Aldi/Aldis and loving it!

For breakfast this morning we had scrambled eggs using the cauliflower puree. I could taste the cauliflower a little bit, but Kyle ate them up. If I didn't know the cauliflower was in there I don't think I would have realized what the taste was, just that it was a little different. I will definitely make them again. They also had a little Parmesan and sour cream which probably helped disguise the cauliflower.

Since I had a substantial time investment, I did feel some added pressure that Kyle needed to eat all of his eggs. Thankfully, he ate them without prodding, but obviously I need to work through that and get over it because I'm sure it's not always going to happen!

Tonight I made another recipe from the same cookbook. I made spaghetti pie in which the meatballs had broccoli and the sauce had carrots. The carrot part was not new to me because I almost always add carrots when I make Italian food; the broccoli part was new to me and when I saw what they looked like I was especially leery. See the picture below? Not too appetizing, although great for St. Patrick's Day. The recipe also called for me to put the meatballs in raw, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I partially cooked them in a skillet with olive oil before adding them to the sauce and pasta mixture, then baking.
I have only made spaghetti pie two or three times, including this and I have never gotten it to turn out like it is supposed to, I don't know what I'm doing wrong. The noodles did not crisp at all on top like the recipe said they should. However, it received rave reviews from my family! Seconds were requested and granted all around the table! Next time I can make it even healthier by adding less cheese, Mike thought it was so good he didn't even need the mozzarella on top (it has minimal Parmesan in the meatballs and also low-fat cottage cheese in the sauce).

I have not so fond memories of my mom making beets when I was a child and the smell filled the house and nauseated me (sorry Mom, no offense to you, really!), so I am anxious to try a recipe with them and see if indeed the taste is disguised and makes my dish deceptively nutritious, which makes more sense to me than the book's title Deceptively Delicious. Anyone else? Maybe I'm thinking about it wrong. Anywho.