One of the things I enjoy most about the fall and winter is baking. With it being cold out I have the perfect excuse to heat up my house with the oven. I tend to make the same baked goods each year, but this year I've been trying to find some new recipes to try. This week I tried out a recipe for orange-cranberry bread. This was a hit! I would love to make this again to give as gifts in mini loaf pans, assuming I find the time and energy to bake at the last minute once December gets rolling! I found it on the Joy of Baking site, which is one of my favorite baking websites. I've made a number of recipes listed on this site and each one has been great. I think I may try the shortbread cookie recipe soon too.
I also made a healthy version (ok, healthier maybe) of mac and cheese this week. I've been using the Sneaky Chef cookbook to explore new foods that will appeal to the three of us, toddler included. The recipes all included adding veggie purees to them to increase the nutritional content. For the mac and cheese I made a blend of raw squash, steamed cauliflower, and a bit of lemon juice. Honestly, the smell of the cauliflower was horrid, but once the puree was in the cheese sauce, I couldn't taste it. I also used whole wheat elbow macaroni and cut the butter down to two tablespoons. I used no cream, either, to cut out more fat. I think the biggest taste difference was the lack of butter, but it was still good. Andrew enjoyed it, which is what counts! He continues to not like eating most meats/poultry, so I am on a search for vegetarian dishes that will give him protein. He actually ate turkey chili this week, but only as long as I called it red beans. He helped pick out the beans from the grocery store and kept talking about them, so maybe that is why he wanted to eat them.
Last week, also from the Sneaky Chef, I made peanut butter and jelly muffins that had a sweet potato and carrot puree in them. They were great. I have added that orange puree into meatloaf and meatballs and it barely affected the taste. Andrew will eat ground turkey in the form of burgers, loaf or meatballs usually. I tried to get him to eat some of my veggie burger yesterday, but he knew the difference and wouldn't go for it.
Happy Friday!
