Sneaking in some veggies

As I have mentioned before cooking is not my thing. I hate being in the kitchen. Coming up with lunch and dinner ideas, no thanks. Throwing things together last minute when I don't plan, always a fail. Finding recipes that don't have a million ingredients or things I have never heard of, time consuming. Actually preparing the meal, rather be doing something else. You get the point. But since I have a husband and now a kid I have to suck it up and make it work. I looked up a lot of recipes for Rowan to try and get her to eat some veggies and came up with two ideas. Make some muffins (she loves carbs) and try some "fries". I tried finding recipes that used wheat flour, low sugar and a healthy amount of veggies. I made the muffins and froze them so I could have a quick go to for veggies without having to whip out a skillet every meal (similar to the idea of frozen puree cubes). The fries were only good fresh so that was a bit of a downfall. These were the 4 recipes we started with first and our opinions.

Zucchini Banana Muffins- http://southerninlaw.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/healthy-zucchini-banana-muffins-recipe.html

-Overall decent. It ended up tasting like healthy banana bread. I think the banana I used wasn't ripe enough though. I will make it again but try a really ripe banana. Rowan approved and this was the food she learned to sign more for :)

Cinnamon Carrot Muffins - http://www.wholeliving.com/132470/cinnamon-carrot-muffins?czone=eat-well/healthy-breakfasts/muffins-granola&center=155850&gallery=155629&slide=133453

-Yummo. This was like a yummy carrot cake but healthy. Two thumbs up from all three of us.

Zucchini Fries- http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2010/01/baked-zucchini-fries.html

-This came from pinterest and everyone raved about them. I found them to be ok and probably won't make them again. It was more work than making zucchini in a skillet and I didn't like the texture as much. I wanted them to be more crunchy but the zucchini part was a little chewy. Ro ate them at one meal and then was over it.

Carrot Fries- http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/25-baked-alternatives-to-potato-chips-and-french-f   

-These were really good. We cooked them so they were a little burnt like someone advised and they tasted like sweet potato fries. I used a little too much olive oil, they barely need a sprinkle of it, and had to dry them out on a paper towel before eating them but boy they were delicious. I would make these again and all three of us liked them.



With that I will leave you with a clip of Ro signing more. Her sign looks like "shoes" and then the second time it looks like a clap. She is still working it out :)