Day 2

French toast with pumpkin- Excellent!! I found some raisin bread in the back of my bread box and that with pure maple syrup on top was fabulous. I am noticing a funny pattern developing. Andrew likes to help be cook. When I get the purees out of the freezer he wrinkles his nose and says, "Eeewwwww!! Gross. I would never eat that." Then he helps me pour it into the batter. He stirs. I bake. Viola!! He eats double portions, then comments, "I am glad you were just joking about making me eat that gross stuff."
It's true. We have been eating well. Breakfast was great. For lunch I served the leftover soup and applesauce muffins. And for dinner we had meatloaf and mashed potatoes. We topped everything off with berry frozen yogurt pops. My kids ate it all with out a complaint. I was surprised by that because usually my kids don't/won't eat mashed potatoes, but with the motivation of the pops for dessert, they cleaned their plate.
So let's review.
I give the french toast a 10.
Mashed potatoes with cauliflower rates 10. I used 2% milk instead of skim and real butter due to the fact that I have some skinny kids running around here.
The meatloaf with carrot I will rate an 8. The flavor was excellent, but the consistency was a little lacking. Instead of firming up upon cooking, it stayed creamy. It's true that I used ground beef instead of ground turkey, so maybe that effected the results. I don't know.
So, according to my estimation my kids and I have eaten 6 different kinds of veggies today. That is a new all time record!! Way to go, me!!

Applesauce Muffins

Day One!!

Well, today I am happy to report that we ate 3 servings of vegetables...and we liked it!! The applesauce muffins were a big hit. I made them last night and of coarse I made them mini muffins because mini is more fun. This morning all the kids just gobbled them up. I added orange juice and bananas and called it breakfast. One serving of carrots down.
Dinner was a bit more tricky. We had meatball soup, which I must say was delicious!! I really must recommend it. All of my kids scarfed it down and Andrew (who is my notoriously picky eater) said, "Mom, I like this soup. Finally you got one that doesn't have any yucky stuff (veggies) in it!!" I just smiled and graciously accepted the compliment. What he doesn't know....
Anyway, a few comments about the soup. The instructions say that prep time is 20 minutes. I found that to be a gross understatement. I think the next time I make it I will try to have the meatballs already cooked and in the freezer. It was labor intensive to boil the noodles, soften the onions, puree the tomatoes, and prep the meatballs at the same time. Just add a few needy children into the mix and I was about ready to toss dinner out the window. But I am glad I persevered. The recipe calls for carrot puree but I accidentally added yams (hey, they are both orange and I was preoccupied with the kids). It all worked out ok. In fact I think I liked it better. The yams thickened the soup and made it more like a chili consistency. Oh, and I also used ground beef and beef stock instead of ground turkey and chicken stock. The meatballs were supposed to be added to the soup cooked upon simmering. Well, they did not keep their shape, but that was ok. It kind of was just a hearty meaty pizza-y yummy soup. I give it an 8. It would have had a 10, but that prep work docs it 2 points. Oh, by the way, the meatballs had sweet potato in them.
Tomorrow's menu:
Breakfast: French Toast (pumpkin)
Dinner: Italian Meatloaf (carrot), mashed potatoes (cauliflower)
Dessert: Frozen yogurt pops (berries)

Thanks for reading and enjoy!!

Purees

Deceptively Delicious

Hello All, I know it has been awhile since I have updated my blog. To be honest, I kind of forgot about it. I was tempted to shut it down. But recently I have been inspired to pick it back up. What is the source of my inspiration, you ask? Simple...vegetables. I guess I should say my realization that I really don't like vegetables. Yes, it occurred to me as I was cleaning out my vegetable drawer in the fridge. I spend lots of money on vegetables only so they can get moldy, squishy, and runny. Yuck!! Not only is it an inconvenience to clean out....it is also a mega waste of money. Something had to be done. I couldn't just stop buying vegetables!! The check out person at the grocery store will look at me funny, I just know it!! As I stand there with four growing boys, the checker will know that I am neglecting their major nutritional needs. Dilemma. What to do? Then the answer came to me as I was sitting with my girlfriends in a Chinese restaurant. They told me about the movie, "Julie and Julia". Apparently (I have never seen it) a woman decides to take a year to cook through Julia Child's cookbook. Well, a few days later when I was pondering my dilemma and trying to prepare my grocery list it came to me. I will cook through Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook, "Deceptively Delicious." It was a perfect solution. My mom gave me the book for Christmas. (I think she secretly suspected my snubbery of green foods. Moms have a way of knowing these things). The book's premise is to sneak vegetable purees into normal foods. The audience doesn't realize they are eating vegetables, which presented openly would certainly cause immediate choking, burning, or one's eyeballs to fall out. Since I am one, along with my kids, who frowns on eyeballs rolling around on the floor, I quickly devised a plan to eat my vegetables without really having to "know" I was eating my vegetables. Here it is: I will cook through as many recipes as I can in a two week period. I start tomorrow!!
Prep. work so far. I sat down and wrote down a 2 week meal plan including breakfast, lunch and dinner. I excluded any recipe that I knew we wouldn't like; for instance the Tuna Salad. No one in our family likes tuna. Then I prepared my grocery list. I decided that since I was going to commit to eating these vegetables, I was going to invest in really good veggies. I went to our local whole foods grocery store, Huckleberry's, and bought very fresh, very ripe, organic produce.
Next I spent some time this weekend prep-ing the veggies. I steamed or roasted them, then blended them in the food processor to make beautiful purees. Then I sealed them in freezer bags in 1/2 - 1 cup portions. Labeled them, then stacked them in the freezer. I am happy to say that I currently have yams, sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, and broccoli ready to go. I still have cauliflower, spinach, and acorn squash that I will work on tomorrow.
As a side note, my kids have really enjoyed being involved in my little adventure. My oldest, Isaac 6, enjoyed accompanying me to the grocery store. I let him pick out which veggies we should get. I think we both were a little amazed and disgusted at what beets really look like. They are really ugly!!! ...more on that later. Also, they have enjoyed the processing of the veggies. Today I had my 3 older kids and 2 neighbor friends all helping me peel carrots and mush potatoes. It was really fun!! But I would avoid this if you are one who enjoys a tidy kitchen.....yeah, about that.
So, anyway. If you want to join me on this little adventure, tomorrow we will be eating Applesauce muffins (carrot) for breakfast, and meatball soup (carrot and sweet potato). I will be adding my own sides, but these are the recipes in the book that will be attempted.
Now, one last observation before I sign off for the night. What is the deal with beets!! I don't understand how they became something that humans were willing to eat!! First of all, they are incredible ugly when you pull them out of the ground. They have these long roots that grotesquely resemble rat's tails. I admit they are choked full of nutrition and during recessions, famines, or great depressions people are forced to do desperate things, but I am quite surprised at their staying power during these fairly affluent times. OK, it's true that when you puree them they have a beautiful color that reminds me of a blackberry/raspberry sauce....but the smell!!! The smell reminds me of a pungent cross between dirt and YUCK....about a 30:70 ratio. I am sorry it I am offending any beet farmers of America. I am sorry. I can not give my endorsement to the beet. Not until they make it taste a lot more like what it looks like. Yeah, lets make the beet taste like a blackberry/raspberry hybrid. I think then we would really see a serious upturn in consumerable beet market.

A little different this year.

Last year on this day, we had record breaking snow. This year....well, it looks a little different.

This time last year

Snow snow snow.

Christmas tree 2009

Politics

I hate to write a political post...but I think this one is deserving of all of our attention. As you all know, there is a major push to pass the health care bill . Please take a few minutes to listen to Focus on the Family's broadcast on the Manhattan Declaration. It is very informative and calls for true Christians to make a stand.
Let me make my stand perfectly clear. I strive to be a law abiding citizen. I will pay taxes and join health care plans if it is required by law. BUT!!! I will not become an accessory to murder. I refuse to willingly pay for abortion services. I am convinced that would be breaking God's law. I am willing to stand by my convictions and ready to face the consequences for my actions. I will render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, but I will never render unto Caesar that which belongs to God.

http://manhattandeclaration.org

This is the link to Focus on the Family's Broadcast.
http://listen.family.org/daily/A000002319.cfm

This is a link to just one of the blacklash responses to the Manhattan Declaration. Christians are called the "American Taliban", and words like "ChristeoFacist" are used.
http://www.newshounds.us/2009/11/24/bill_oreilly_and_ann_coulter_endorse_radical_conservative_clergy_position.php

Thank you for taking the time to educate yourselves and I hope you choose to join with me in standing up for our Foundational Christian Values.

Sarah

Sammy J. 4 months

Picture by Andrew Keevy. Model: Samuel J.

Funny faces

Brothers

Another cute, cute, cute!

Sammy James 4 months old.