Sneaky Attempt #1: Pumpkin & Spelt

The picky eater—he loves banana muffins. And I happened to have canned pumpkin in my pantry. And some spelt flour in my fridge. So, I gave pumpkin bread, in the form of muffins of course, a go.

Problem was I had never made pumpkin bread in my life. Crazy I know. What’s a girl to do when she wants to make something she has no recipe for? Why go to allrecipes.com for sure. I do love that site as you will soon see. Here’s the recipe I used:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/downeast-maine-pumpkin-bread/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=pumpkin%20bread&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page

Here’s the part I always love about the comments in recipes on this site (and I’m sure on other recipe sites). The people NEVER make the recipe as is and you end up with this laundry list of changes. Well, folks, I am not exception. Here’s what I did a little differently:

• Used 3 eggs because all I had were jumbo eggs and I thought 3 would be plenty
• Cut the oil in half and added 1/2 cup of natural applesauce to make them a little healthier
• Only used 2 cups of sugar because oh my goodness 3 cups freaked me out
• Cut the flour to 2 cups and added 1 1/2 cups of spelt flour to add some protein and fiber
• Added 1 teaspoon of vanilla because that’s how I roll
• Omitted the ground cloves only because I didn’t have any and I wasn’t making a trip to the store to get it
• Baked them for 20 minutes because I made muffins instead of loaves of bread

I know, I know the sugar. It’s a lot even cutting it by a cup, but in my mind I balance it out with the extra fiber, protein, and vitamin A he is getting. Maybe I’m delusional but whatever.

The verdict? Both boys loved them and so did hubby and I. I froze several of them too. I’m a big fan of freezing bread. Definitely making this again. I think I’ll try to sneak in some pureed sweet potato next time too. Think I could get away with that?

Momma Got Her Craft On

This weekend I went crafting and I am too excited about what I made to not share it. I’ll tell you all about the pumpkin muffins I got the boys to inhale tomorrow. But today. We relive my weekend.

On Friday night we had a meet and greet type thing. When I arrived, I received a swag bag to keep all my treasures in. And then I found out we got to keep them!

And there where several different make and takes areas set up. Here are my favorite things I made that night.

headband with rosettes—in Thunder colors of course

cute little earrings

and this wire word to go in my classroom next year

 

When Saturday rolled around, it was big project time! We made moss letters, vintage jewelry, etched glass, and started a smash book.

moss letter decorated for the Thunder as they play in the NBA Finals

 

vintage jewelry necklace—my first attempt at making jewelry. I had a lot of help though.

etched glass—could not believe how easy this was. I will be making more soon.

smash book—the beginnings of one anyway. This particular page is from Sweetie Pie’s first time fishing. Daddy was teaching him. The writing is a letter he wrote thanking his daddy for taking him fishing.

Phew! That’s it. By the end of the day my heart was full and my mind exhausted. It had been too long since I had done anything crafty, and this made me realize I need to start scheduling craft time into my calendar. And you should see my DIY board on Pinterest now. It. Is. Full. And that, my friends, makes my heart smile.

Jami

Let the Deception Begin

Here they are. My little nuggets of nutrition I’m going to sneak into my boys’ food whenever I can. I have pureed sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, & cauliflower so far. Spinach is waiting patiently to be next.

To puree the veggies, I just cooked them—steamed the cauliflower & carrots and baked the sweet potatoes and butternut squash—then put them in the food processor, added a little water, and off we went. Once pureed, I put the veggies in ice cubes trays I had leftover from my making baby food days and froze them. Then I put the cubes in the bags and labeled them. And there you have it. Easy peezy. Took me maybe an hour to cook, puree and get it all into the freezer.

So, I say LET THE GAMES BEGIN! I’ll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, please keep your fingers crossed.

Jami

I’m Back! And I’m on a Mission

Let’s not even discuss the fact that it has been FOR.EV.ER. since I last blogged. Or maybe we should. I’m pretty sure I can sum it up by saying two things. 1.) I’m pretty sure 24 hours is not actually 24 hours anymore. You know, the way a half gallon of ice cream isn’t really a true half gallon anymore? And time, it’s just moving faster the older I get and the older these munchkins get. 2.) The other reason I quit got sidetracked with the blogging thing? I felt like I had nothing else to say. I ran out of words. But now I am on a mission. And I have a lot to say.

My mission? To get my family and I eating healthier.

Now, this eating healthier thing isn’t a huge problem for my husband and me. We both like to try new things and don’t mind experimenting. In fact I already have a couple of new favorite recipes that we LOVE that I’ll be sharing. We are really working on lifestyle eating changes. Like turkey burgers or teriyaki chicken sandwiches instead of hamburgers. More veggies and less meat kinds of things.

Now getting the boys to eat healthier? That’s a-WHOLE-nother story.

***insert hilarious, uncontrollable, rolling on the floor cackling here***

Sweetie Pie will sometimes try new things with a little lot of coaxing. The hubs gave him a talk about using his “open-mind” to try new food and to my amazement it actually worked. Go figure. If I had been the one talking, it would have gone in one ear and out the other. All hail kind dad! But I digress.

Boogaboo—where do I even start? He is my picky eater. And that is the understatement of the century. Let me list what he’ll eat. It’s okay. You can keep reading. It is a VERY short list.

Yogurt
Bananas
Crackers
Pizza
Cheese
Corn Dogs
PB & J
Pancakes
Cereal
Pop Tarts
Chicken Nuggets
Hot Dogs
Baked Beans
Spaghetti (Apparently not anymore)

That’s it. We make sure he gets his vitamins because, hello? Not a whole lot of nutrients there. So, I made a decision. I’m going to hide yummy, nutritious veggies and fruits in food. Deceptive? Maybe. Necessary? Absolutely. (See the above list.)

Here’s my plan. I am going to try new recipes and share the results with you guys. Surely I am not the only parent out there who has picky eaters at home. If the result is good, I’ll even share the recipe. I’m helpful that way. Sometimes these will be recipes I have “hidden” fruits and veggies in, and other times they’ll just be recipes that the hubs and I (and maybe Sweetie Pie—fingers crossed) are eating to be more healthy. and recipe might be a term I’m using loosely. Sometimes “instructions” might be a better word.

It’s going to be a journey folks. Probably an imperfect one. And I’m starting now.

Jami

PS—Boogaboo just ate pumpkin muffins made with spelt flour! Hello Vitamin A and fiber.