How I got out of my funk today

I got cooking! I got this cookbook from my mom at Christmas, and haven't used it. It's geared towards moms cooking for their kids and it has ways to hide vegetables in regular foods. Those of you who read this and know the story of my broccoli enchiladas know that this book is perfect for me. And Bean, who doesn't really eat vegetables. The way it works is you prepare vegetable purees and divide them into bags which you freeze or refrigerate so they are ready to use as an ingredient in the recipes. You steam the veggies first so you don't lose any nutrients or fiber.




I made some yellow squash (which tastes gross, by the way) and cauliflower, which I figure can be mixed in with anything since it has no taste. Later on tonight I plan to make the mashed potatoes, which has the cauliflower mixed in. My mom made it during the holidays once and I remember thinking it was so good. I tried to make it once but I didn't steam the cauliflower long enough so I didn't get a really creamy consistency. This time I think it turned out better, so hopefully those will turn out well.



My first recipe was the Lemon-Blueberry Muffins. They have the squash mixed in. After sticking my finger in the raw puree I was very hesitant about these. They are also made with lemon yogurt (I used organic) and flax seed meal (which I love).



They were AWESOME! I will totally make these again, especially if we have guests. They were delicious. A lot of ingredients, but fairly easy to put together and they came out so good, I can't believe there is squash inside. After that, I tried the Chocolate Chip Cookies, which I was also very afraid of, because they have chickpeas in them. Whole chickpeas!


They came out quite good though. I kept trying to see if I was eating a chickpea, and I might have gotten the one cookie without any in it, but it tasted like a regular cookie, although a little chewy/grainy because there is also oatmeal in there. Not to sugary either. Other variations include adding raisins and walnuts, but to me that's just too much stuff going on. I can't wait to try more recipes! Especially ones with spinach puree because I love spinach.

I realized that the broccoli in the enchiladas probably didn't work out because I put too much of them (these recipes don't overload on the veggies... I almost feel like I should be putting more in), plus broccoli has such a strong flavor, that it would be hard to cover it up. The veggies she uses in the book are not as strong.

I am also happy to report that I now have plans to get some party planning done tomorrow night with Jess, and family burger time with my cousin Anna on Sunday. The funk is officially gone!