The Ides of March

Sorry for the sabbatical.

Sometimes life happens and interferes with all the nicely planned good intentions. 

My grandfather passed away at the end of February. His death has thrown me for a loop. It’s taken a while, and will take a longer while still, to adjust to the new normal of his not being in the world. 

Hence the lack of little things like blogging.

As Walt Disney famously said, in a much longer quote, “keep moving forward.”

So…carrots.

We’ve made several dishes this month with varying degrees of success.

1st:

Carrot fritters

I shredded carrot, mixed in cheese, ground oats and flax into flour, added an egg and baked until crisp. They were a hit when warm, but not touched once cooled. 

2nd:

Carrot Oatmeal “Cookies”

Shredded carrots, oats, maple syrup, salt and egg seem like a winner, but we’re not as well received as I had hoped.

 They needed to be sweeter and lighter, but Liam gave up sweets for lent. This sweet sacrifice limited how yummy I could make these…

3rd:

Roasted Carrots

No pic of this super basic dinner side. 

It. Was. Not. Appreciated.

4th:

Carrot Mac and Cheese

I’m proudest of this one this month. After grating a 1/2 pound of carrots I added a bit of honey, some milk and blended it into a creamy carrot concoction.

The mix got poured in a pan and a 1/2 cup each of cheddar and freshly grated Parmesan were added and melted in.

This amazing sauce was poured over pasta and served to my picky little man.

He loved it.

Then I told him what was in it and he hated it.

A long talk ensued where I expressed my frustration and disappointment in his lack of honesty and open-mindedness that was the purpose of this whole project.

Then I stepped off my soapbox and let him know he was going to have it in his lunch every day that week.

The next afternoon, I got this reaction:

Mom wins.

Three months down. Nine to go.

See what’s cooking in March!

Spinach in familiar places

Spinach is going strong. With two major wins under my belt, I can safely say Liam has embraced the green monster-to a degree.

I think the key to his open mind is age and experience. A few years ago there would have been huge fits and possibly projectile vomit. 

Yea, maturity!

To continue the momentum, I stuffed some spinach into Liam’s much beloved quesadillas. 

Much loved + experiment = success!

Super simple with the added bonus of that he loved it so much he asked for it in his lunch! 

We heart spinach.

Kronk’s Spinach Puffs

When Liam settled on spinach as February’s vegetable of the month, the first idea he had was to make spinach puffs like Kronk in The Emperor’s New Groove. 

Google “Kronks spinach puffs” and you are transported to a super fandom of cooks who have blogged, videoed, snapped and tweeted their version of the treats. 

Foolishly, I had grocery shopped prior to looking for recipe inspiration. I had a plan in my head that called for puff pastry, ricotta, spinach and some other bits and pieces I would figure out as I puttered along.

Luckily, as I shuffled through websites and pins I shaped the following recipe and my poor planning was not too hard a hurdle to overcome. For the picky eater in my life I omitted onion, garlic, and nutmeg found in other recipes.

Kronks Spinach Puffs a la Liam

In a magic bullet or blender zap 1 cup of thawed, drained, and squeezed out (put it in a sturdy paper towel and squeeze all the extra water out) spinach into to bullet along with on egg, 1 t salt, pepper,  1/4 c parmigian, and 1 1/2 c ricotta until it’s a homogeneous mixture.

Roll out one sheet of puff pastry and cut into 16 squares. Pop the squares into alternating cups of a mini muffin tin- you will have a few that will be next to each other, but generally these need room to puff.

Scoop 1 scant T of the spinach mix into each pastry and pull the corners to the middle.

Bake for 12 minutes at 350

Liam said he didn’t like them.

He LOVED them.

Liam says “The spinach part was cheesy and the bread part was crunchy.”

Others in the house thought they were bland, but that was kinda the point. 

Liam, “I think I’m starting to like spinach food.”

Me, “!!!”

Another win for spinach!

Hulk and Muffins

New month, new veg. 

When Liam picked spinach, I was vastly concerned. It’s the one of the most notorious of the veggies out there! But thinking on it, I realized that kid is pretty darn smart. Liam knew he liked spinach mixed into smoothies, because it masked any veggie flavor from waaay back. The kid was counting on me to do the same thing in four new recipes.

The heat was on!

I felt that starting from a familiar place would lend itself to a successful taste test. In consulting my go to life guide, Pinterest, I came across several recipes for spinach muffins. They all had a base of spinach purée, which made them a vibrant green.

Another thing they all had was a 1/2 cup or more of sweeteners, which I thought was a lot. Plus a larger amount of fat than I felt was necessary.

So I took those recipes and pieced together my own version adding blueberries to keep them familiar.

I had a feeling this would be a home run because Liam rarely turns his nose up to my baked goods.

And we named them Hulk Muffins…because they are incredibly green.

Spinach purée:

I used our magic bullet to zap two handfuls of spinach, a banana, and 1/2 c apple sauce into a vibrant green sauce.

Hulk Muffins:

1 1/2 c flour

1 t baking powder 

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

Add 1 egg, 1/4 c melted and cooled butter and 1/4 c brown sugar to the spinach mix and stir well.

Fold the wet mix into the dry, add a cup of blueberries and spoon into  muffin tins. I use mini muffin tins because tiny food it fun!

Cook for 10-12 minutes at 350 and yummy Hulk muffins are ready!

Liam gave them a five star rating! “Super delicious! Don’t give up if your kids don’t want to try them. Trust me, they will like them.”

I feel like SuperMom this week! The whole fam enjoyed this treat and they ate their veggies without force or threats!

Taking something beloved and spinning it in a healthy direction is always a good game plan. 

This is going to be a great month for veggies! 

February’s Veg of the Month…

After much debate, we’ve decided on spinach. 

Yep, spinach.

To clarify in advance, this is all Liam’s idea. 

He picks all the vegetables, we collaborate on recipes and I post the results. 

Liam has picked a few different veg as potential candidates for February. At first he wanted to go with brussel sprouts, which are one of my favs, but I encouraged him to try something more neutral so we would be more likely to have success.

In the decision making process, we talked about zucchini, mushrooms, carrots and a multitude of others, but Liam stood firmly with giving spinach a go.

I was really rooting for mushrooms.

On tonight’s after dinner family walk, we were talking about how else to make turnips for January and Liam’s thoughts jumped to vegetables for February.

Of all the veggies goodness in the world my picky eater is tackling the big daddy of all veg. 

Popeyes pal.

Spinach.

I’m all about success with this project,  so I’m determined to find spectacularly delectable dishes to showcase spinach.

January’s experience with turnips showed us that Liam is sensitive to bitter flavors. Spinach can be bitter if over cooked or on it’s own, I’ll need to create recipes playing on its versatility. 

The issue I foresee is texture. 

What Liam doesn’t know is that I’ve snuck spinach into his food for YEARS. Chopped into minuscule pieces of course.

I hope February treats us all to new flavors!  Visit in February to see how it goes…

Last Turnip Recipe!

For this recipe I turned to my favorite rabbit hole to get lost in-Pinterest.

While searching for yummy ways to entice my picky eater with one final turnip attempt, I stumbled across a Martha Stewart recipe for a turnip puff-something I’d never heard of before. It appears to be a holiday meal staple in other regions of our fine country. 

I searched around a bit more, and found a recipe I thought looked promising and tweakable at cupcakesandtiara.net.

For the puff I peeled, cut up and boiled two turnips in water seasoned with salt and honey.  Once tender,I mashed them up, added about a T brown sugar, 3T butter, about a cup of fresh bread crumbs and two eggs. Then I baked it all in a small iron skillet at 350 for 20 minutes.

Results:

Liam gave it two thumbs down. Texture was ok, but the turnip flavor was too strong.
What I’ve learned this month:

Turnips are gross.

Sorry, but they are.

The only recipe I “liked” was the baked version. 

I also learned that my picky eater is at least willing to try new things with a (somewhat) open mind. This is worth celebrating!

Check in next week to see what Liam picked for February’s veg of the month. It’s a doozy.

Turnip try #3!

When this idea came to me, I knew it was a winner.

Liam has NEVER been one to turn down baked breakfast goods, so waffles had to be a win!

I paired it with a well loved favorite, salmon, for a play on chicken and waffles. 

Everyone was a fan! 

We are not even going to pretend this is a healthy dish. It serves if purpose in attempting to expand horizons. 

For the record, I’m not a fan of baking mixes but I had some on hand from a holiday dish I make once a year and figured this would be a way to use it up.

1 cup grated turnips 

1 cup grated carrots 

2 cups baking mix

2 eggs 

Milk enough to make it a batter- 1 or 2 cups

1/2 c melted butter

Panada Grana for shredding over the top

Turnips, Round 2

Our second try is a shameless attempt to pander to Liam’s most beloved food tastes-French fries.

We cut the turnips into fry shapes, tossed them in olive oil, salt and pepper then baked until browned.

Along side high fructose corn syrup free ketchup, Liam gave these a thumbs up-albeit a tentative one. He didn’t joyfully dive in, but they would be an acceptable stand in if other options weren’t available.

Liam:

The thin cut fries are the best because I taste the bitterness less.

The texture was ok. It wasn’t French fries, but it wasn’t gross.

I tasted a little bit of turnip, but it was also salty. If they were all thin cut and crisp I would eat more.

I count this as a success. It was something he agreed to eat and it showed simple techniques like the size of a cut can change the potential taste and texture of a dish.

Winner, winner turnips for dinner!

Turnips, Round 1

Try #1

Check the recipe tab to see the complete ‘how to’ in the making of this first try at turnips.

In asking around for ideas on how to prepare turnips, I did not get a lot of encouraging feedback.

My grandmother unequivocally proclaimed she did not care for turnips in any form whilst at lunch with my family this week. When eating with my uncles on Christmas, turnip loving John acknowledged turnips were an acquired taste.

Liam and scoured the interwebs for possible recipe contenders. We came up with a few that will hopefully yield a winner or two.

I scaled way back on quantity so we could all have a taste. My plan is to make a large batch of the successful ‘trys’.
Today’s recipe is simply turnips, pears, a pinch of salt and a bit of fat pan roasted until caramelized and soft. Once softened, I mashed it into a applesauce consistency.

 

Liam:

The texture was ok-it didn’t           make me want to gag.

There could have been more pear because the turnips took over. Turnips are bitter to me.
Friends-this was not a thumbs up, but it did open Liam up to talking specifically about his likes and dislikes.  Kudos to him for questioning the addition of a fat in a ‘healthy’ food. That opened the door for a talk about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ fats. Perhaps some of this talk will stick with him as food choices are made.

Until the next recipe!