By Guest Blogger, Laura Sieckmann from www.ecomomadventures.com
I like to think that I am a lucky mom because our (first born) little 14 month old has been open to trying all kinds of new foods and so far she seems to favor veggies over fruits. Who is to say what her tastes will be like years from now, so I am taking advantage of her current palate and feeding her as many fresh and steamed veggies as I can. If it turns out that I am lucky and my daughter is just a healthy, happy eater for life (a mom can dream), I am sure that I will still want to find delicious and creative ways to make it easy to eat your veggies. So, needless to say, I have been experimenting lately with baking in the kitchen with veggies.
Some of the recipes that I have made were so good that it was hard to tell there were veggies in them. That got me to thinking about how many parents are speaking out against hiding veggies from kids and how it is being said that it is wrong to sneak vegetables into food. My opinion on that whole argument is that if your kid eats ANYTHING from a box that is processed such as cookies, crackers or chips, even granola bars or fruit snacks, there is something that is being hidden in there such as red dye 40 or corn syrup or whatever is used as a preservative so I would rather sneak some veggies into my kids diet than some methylchloroisothiazolinone. But that is just my opinion =)
The latest culinary risk I took was making salt and vinegar kale chips. Let me just say, yummy! Between my husband, daughter and myself we finished a whole heads worth of kale chips in one evening. They were so easy to make and only took a total of 15 minutes from start to finish. Another great thing about kale chips is that they can be flavored in many ways such as chocolate kale chips (just use coco powder) or chili lime kale chips (just squeeze some lime juice and sprinkle some chili powder when seasoning.) Kale chips are definitely worth a try even if you are not a huge veggie fan for two reasons, for one they taste delightful, better than potato chips and for two they are so good for you because they are high in vitamins A, C and K and also have tons of potassium, iron and calcium.
Another veggietastic recipe we have tried in my house recently is veggie muffins. My daughter loves eating and tearing apart these muffins and in my opinion they make a perfect breakfast along with an egg and banana. Veggie muffins also make a great guilt free snack. Additionally, they can be frozen in batches and taken out to defrost and eat as needed, so you can do as I did and make a double batch!
Hopefully these ideas will encourage you to get creative with veggies or if you have a picky eater, perhaps they will take a liking to veggies if prepared in a fun, new, easy to eat way.
Enjoy the recipes!
Photo Cred: SugarLaws.com
Kale Chips
1 bunch kale, 6 to 8 stems or 12 ounces
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp seasoning (vinegar or coco powder work well) optional
A dash of salt (if desired)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Wash the kale, dry thoroughly and tear into bite-size pieces
3. Toss in a large bowl with the olive oil and seasoning and rub the leaves to make sure each gets a coating of oil so they crisp well
4. Place the kale in a single layer on the baking sheet and sprinkle with salt to taste (if desired)
5. Bake for 6 minutes then turn kale and bake for another 6-9 minutes
*In order to do a single layer, I needed two baking sheets and a single layer is important for crispy results. Do not let chips brown or they will taste burnt.
Photo Cred: DanaMadeIt.com
Veggie Muffins
Ingredients
2 Cups Flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 of a stick) unsalted softened butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup juice (any fruit juice will work)
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen chopped broccoli (which will make about a 1/2 cup of puree)
1 to 1 1/2 cups smashed bananas (about 3 bananas)
1/2 cup grated carrots
1/4 cup yogurt (use your favorite flavor and type)
1/2 tsp vanilla
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- Mix dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt) in a small bowl and set aside
- Mix sugar, butter and eggs in a separate bowl or mixer until well blended
- Prepare your veggies. Grate the carrots, smash up the bananas and prepare your broccoli puree (take frozen/thawed or fresh/steamed chopped broccoli and puree it with juice)
- Combine veggies with other ingredients to create batter
- Scoop the veggie goodness into greased muffin pan or muffin liners
- Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until the tops are slightly brown and a toothpick comes out clean
Makes 20-24 small muffins
About Laura:
I am a full time mommy forever embarking upon adventures all the while maintaining a conscious mind to stay healthy and green!
Check her out on http://www.ecomomadventures.com/
For the yogurt, can I use yogurt that has fruit in it? We buy the individual containers in bulk at Costco and that would make it more economical than buying more yogurt:).
Try it! There is sweet from the bananas so it’ll probably come out great!