Sneaky

Have you ever heard of the "Sneaky Chef?" Her name is Missy Chase Lapine and she is the author of several "Sneaky Chef"  cookbooks.  I have checked out her cookbook several times from the library and every time has been at a different eating stage for our girls.  The first time was "Oh this has some good ideas but L. is doing okay with eating right now so I'm not sure we need to resort to this," and the most recent time was "Okay L. doesn't want to eat anything but crackers and cheese and plain noodles with parmessan cheese, maybe we can find something in here."  Her basic strategy is purees.  She has various purees in different colors based on the ingredients which she then sneaks into different dishes that kids already eat and love.  For example she has a "white puree" that I think has cauliflower and maybe white beans (I can't remember exactly) and you can then add that to mac and cheese.  Her big thing is that the puree can't alter the dish in a noticeable way, or else the picky kid of course will not eat it.

My difficulty with this method is that one of my food goals for our family is that our kids recognize vegetables as they are (not pureed and hidden), and that they eat a variety of them knowingly. But maybe this could be a good way for us to ease in to it? That being said she does have a bunch of great ideas that we have tried.  One of them is a flour blend.  It is one part wheat germ, one part wheat flour, and one part unbleached all-purpose flour. I fill a gallon size zip lock bag with the flour mix and keep it in the freezer. She says that it should work fine in most things that call for flour, but I haven't been to daring and mostly use it in things that are pretty flexible with the type of flour you use, like muffins or banana bread. She has a bunch of recipes and ideas on her website: http://www.thesneakychef.com/  Check it out and see what you think.

Taste of Fall and Comfort Food

These are two recipes that I LOVE!  They are a bit less on the healthy side and more on the really yummy side.  Both are great on cold days. Enjoy!

Apple Cider Syrup 

1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
3 Tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Mix in a medium sauce pan then add:

2 cups apple cider (or apple juice if you don't have cider)
2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Cook on medium high heat until it boils, stir constantly.  Boil 1 minute, remove from heat and add 4 Tbsp. butter. Stir until butter is melted. Absolutely delicious on pancakes, waffles, or ice cream :)


This next recipe is pure comfort food.  A neighbor brought this over after R. was born and it totally hit the spot.  We made it last week and it had the same result. :)  The recipe came from this website: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/11/quick-recipe-leftover-turkey-pot-pie/

We used chicken instead of turkey, but you may have some leftover turkey next week that you want to use. We also did pie crust on the top and bottom.

Leftover Turkey Pot Pie

1 pie crust (1/2 of Perfect Pie Crust recipe)

1/2 stick butter 
1/2 cup finely diced onion 
1/2 cup finely diced carrot 
1/2 cup finely diced celery 
2 cups leftover turkey, light and dark, diced or shredded (or both!) 
1/4 cup flour 
2 cups low-sodium chicken or turkey broth 
splash of white wine (optional) 
1 cup heavy cream 
Frozen peas (optional) 
Fresh thyme, chopped 
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Melt butter in a skillet or dutch oven. Add onion, carrots, and celery, and cook until translucent (a couple of minutes.)
Add turkey and stir. Sprinkle flour over mixture and stir. Cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly.
Pour in chicken or turkey broth, stirring constantly. Splash in wine (you can leave this out if you’d like.) Pour in cream. (May add frozen peas at this point if you’d like.)
Bring to a slow boil and allow mixture to cook and thicken for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste (do not underseason), and fresh or dried thyme to taste. Do one final taste at the end and add what it needs.
Pour mixture into a casserole dish or deep pie pan.
Roll out crust so that it’s about 1 inch larger than the pan you’re using.
Place the crust on top of the pot pie mixture, and press crust into the sides of the dish. Cut vents in the top of the crust.
Bake for 30 minutes or until very golden and bubbly.
Allow to cool for a little bit before serving.