New Foods

I am still cooking my way through the Deceptively Delicious Cookbook! We tried a lot of good stuff this week!

Rice Balls

You will need: 1 cup cooked brown rice, Nonstick cooking spray, Olive oil, 1/4 pound cooked chicken (I used the "Smart Chicken" that is not really chicken, it is soy and vegetable protein that looks like chicken), 1/2 cup sweet potato puree, 1/4 cup shredded cheese, 1/4 cup buttermilk, 1 large egg lightly beaten (I used egg beaters), 1/2 cup spinach puree, whole wheat cracker crumbs (I took whole wheat crackers and beat them to death until they were crumbs)

Put the chicken, cheese, sweet potato puree, & buttermilk into a blender and blend til smooth. Mix the blended mixture with the cooked rice

Beat the spinach puree with the egg and place in a bowl.

Put the cracker crumbs in a bowl next to the egg mixture.

With your hands take a little bit of te rice mixture and shape a "ball". Place the ball in the egg mixture, cover it with cracker crumbs, then set aside on a cookie sheet. Repeat until rice mixture is all gone.

In a heated skillet with olive oil add the rice balls and cook for 5-7 minutes, turning occasionally until browned and crisp all over.

Final report: Eli LOVED them, he ate 4. Emma liked them, she ate 2.

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BUTTERFLY Pasta

My little girl calls bow tie pasta "butterfly pasta"
Whatever makes eating it more fun works for me!
I took that pasta and a can of Ragu Cheesy Alfredo sauce and added 1 cup of cauliflower puree to it and they both ate it up!!! Loved it and it was so easy!
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For dessert that night I made a batch of oatmeal cookies from a box and added carrot puree to the batter. They loved those too!
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We made Penne pasta and used a can of the traditional Prego sauce and I added 1 cup of bell pepper puree to the sauce and it was pretty good.
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Every meal I have started laying out on the table raw veggies (bell peppers, carrots, cucumbers, celery, broccoli, grape tomatoes) with Ranch dip and they have been eating them up like crazy! Some nights that is all Emma wants to eat. But can I really be too upset about her eating vegetables instead of pasta? No.
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CHICKEN CASSEROLE
(what we are eating tonight for dinner)
1 deboned Rotisserie chicken
16 oz. Light sour cream
2 cans cream of chicken
1/2 cup carrot puree
1 cup squash puree
1 cup cauliflower puree
1 sleeve Ritz crackers
1 stick butter

Mix the first 6 ingredients together and put in a 13X9 casserole dish
crush the Ritz up into crumbs, sprinkle on top
Melt butter, pour on top
Bake at 350 degrees 35-45 minutes

I am serving this with Edamame, raw veggies, & dip
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I hope these posts are inspiring and helping others!
I know since I have started doing this that meal time at our house is not stressful anymore and that is my ultimate goal!
Happy Cooking!