This recipe is especially for Life As A Mom’s Ultimate Veggie Recipe Swap. Thanks to Kid Appeal for the heads up.
This recipe is one I’ve minimally adapted from Laurel’s Kitchen. I”m not quite sure why my kids go for it, but they do. They love to help me make it. It’s quick and easy to stir. It makes me very happy to feed them something that actually qualifies as a vegetable instead of the usual glob of highly-processed sugar called “ketchup”.
1 12 ounce can tomato paste
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup maple syrup (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1/8 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
Mix the tomato paste, vinegar, water, syrup (if desired), salt, oregano, cumin, nutmeg, pepper, and mustard powder in a small bowl. Transfer to a squeeze bottle or use an old ketchup bottle that has been thoroughly cleaned. Keeps for months in the refrigerator.
Yield: 2 cups
Prep-time: 10 minutes
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I have no love for Kale Chips. But I know all the super healthy beautiful people out there are making them and getting healthier and more beautiful with every bite.
I have been munching on them all morning simply because there is a big pile sitting on the counter. My kids, however, are not big fans. My youngest helped me make them and happily tasted one. But a minute later she was at the bathroom sink rinsing out her mouth. My oldest tried them a couple hours later and enjoyed the crispy saltiness, but not the bitter aftertaste. My husband’s assessment was “they taste better than they smell.”
Regardless, these are worth a try if you have a sad and lonely bunch of wilted kale hiding out at the bottom of your crisper drawer like I did. I originally ran across a recipe at The Kitchn which points to a recipe at ChowMama.
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Have you ever tried to create your own muffin recipe ? Let me tell you that the ol’ ratio of 1 teaspoon of baking powder to 1 cup of flour has never worked for me.
I have gotten lucky when buttermilk is in the mix, for instance with my Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe. All you have to do there is figure out how much baking soda to use to balance out the acidity of the buttermilk. Easy (sort of).
For this recipe I finally broke down and looked up a recipe on the glorious Interweb. In swooped the Pioneer Woman with a Cheese Muffin recipe. I found these muffins to be perfectly leavened, but greasier than what I was going for. So I made some changes and here you go:
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For directions on how to cook a sweet potato in the microwave, see my recipe for Halloween Mush.
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I’m on a bit of a back-to-basics kick lately. I hope I’m not putting my dear readers to sleep. Believe me, I’ve been experimenting with crazy “innovative” snacks. But they’ve all been
bombs. Sometimes I need to whip up something more predictable so my kids will not mount a rebellion.
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I used some sweet and juicy Garnet Spy apples for this recipe today. Try to use fresh apples as I can see a mealy grocery store apple really ruining the party.
Adapted from “Apple and Sweet Potato Puree” in the Apple Cookbook
by Olwen Woodier.
1 small sweet potato (yields approximately 1 cup of cooked potato)
2 medium apples, peeled, cored and cut into quarters
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch ground ginger (optional)
Pinch freshly ground nutmeg
Pinch salt
1/4 cup plain yogurt
With a knife or fork puncture the skin of the sweet potato a few times. Microwave on high for approximately 4 minutes or until soft throughout. Test by inserting a knife into the potato. If there is little resistance, it is cooked. Set aside and allow to cool.
Microwave apples in a small bowl for 3 minutes or until well cooked. Transfer apples to a blender along with any juices that were released while cooking. Slice the sweet potato in half lengthwise and remove most of the skin. Put the potato plup in the blender along with the apples.
Put the remaining ingredients in the blender (butter, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt and yogurt) and puree until smooth. Allow to cool 2 minutes and serve in small bowls. If you feel like pulling out all the stops top with chocolate sprinkles. Store in the refrigerator in an air-tight container.
Yield: 4 servings (approximately 2 cups)
Prep time: 15 minutes
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I used up some leftover Sweet Potato Fries to make these.
½ cup cooked sweet potato (with skin)
1 cup cooked brown rice
½ cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/3 cup cottage cheese
1 tablespoon wheat germ (optional)
¼ teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place sweet potato, rice, Monterey Jack cheese, cottage cheese, wheat germ and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Process for 45 – 60 seconds or until smooth and a ball starts to form.
Roll sweet potato mixture into tablespoon-sized balls with your hands. Place balls on baking sheet and bake on the center rack of the oven for 15-17 minutes or until the bottoms are golden.
Allow balls to cool on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes. Gently remove balls with thin metal spatula and serve. Store leftovers in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
Yield: 20 balls
Prep time: 10 minutes
Bake time: 15 minutes
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Cookies are a personal battle when it comes to making “healthy” snacks. When I first started investigating and experimenting, I tasted a lot of low-fat, low-sugar baked goods that were cookies in name but definitely not in spirit. Therefore, my official policy is that cookies should not be tinkered with and be allowed to do what they do best: deliver a luscious combination of fat and sugar.
I am nonetheless tempted to experiment from time to time. And simply because I’ve never eaten an avocado cookie before and avocados are so high in good-for-you fat, I’ve come up with this “healthier” cookie that I feel a little bit better about putting in my kid’s lunch box. Its taste is no where near a Toll House. But I feel like they are probably as close as I am going to get to a “healthy” cookie that my family still enjoys eating.
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ripe haas avocado, pitted and skin removed
½ cup butter (1 stick), softened
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 large egg
½ cup low-fat milk
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, oats, coconut, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Mash avocado with a fork in a large bowl until there are no large chunks remaining. Add butter and mix very well with avocado. Add sugars and stir well. Add egg and stir. Finally add the milk and stir until incorporated. Add the flour mixture and stir until combined. Fold in chocolate chips (if desired).
Drop heaping tablespoons full of batter onto ungreased baking sheets or jelly roll pans two inches apart. Bake for 15-17 minutes near the center of the oven, rotating once if necessary. Once the edges of the cookies start to brown, remove from oven and transfer to cooling rack with spatula. Allow to cool slightly and serve.
These cookies will soften considerably if left out overnight. They are best stored in the freezer in an airtight container and thawed on demand.
Makes 38 cookies.
Prep time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
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If you don’t have a mandolin, don’t bother with this recipe. This is one of those times when a fancy kitchen gadget has actually proven itself necessary.
1 sweet potato
Salt (optional)
Preheat oven to 300 F.
Slice potato very thinly with a mandolin (less than 1 millimeter or thereabouts).
Arrange slices individually on parchment-lined baking sheets. Sprinkle with fine salt, if desired.
Bake for 10-30 minutes until chips are curling and almost entirely dried out, rotating at least once. When ready, the chips will slightly pliable, but not wet. They will crisp up more as they cool. The trick is to allow them to dry out almost entirely in the oven, but take them out soon enough so that they don’t start to brown which seems to start happening the instant they dry out (see Note). The size and thickness of the chip plays a large role in baking time.
Allow the chips to cool on the baking sheet or on a cooling rack. Serve or store in air tight container.
Note: The potato I used today was kind enough to give me some visual clues as to when it was dry and ready to be removed from the oven. It turned from an reddish orange to more of a yellowish orange as it dried.
In the photo above the top of the chip is still a little wet and the bottom is dry.
In this photo the left side of the chip is a little wet still and the right side is crispy and delicious. Sometimes parts of the chip will brown a little bit before the entire chip is dry. Sometimes I flip them on the baking sheet, but I don’t think it makes a difference.
Yield: depends (around several handfuls)
Prep-time: 10 minutes
Bake-time: 10-30 minutes
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I found some Grandma’s Robust Molasses at the supermarket. I have no idea what makes it “robust”, but 1 tablespoon has 20% RDA of Iron so I’m not asking questions! Try it in this recipe. They are very moist and delicious, if I do say so myself.
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 stick), softened
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup dark molasses
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/4 cup oil
8 whole dried dates, pitted and chopped (optional, but tasty)
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl with whisk – flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Cream softened butter and brown sugar in large bowl. Add molasses, egg, buttermilk, pumpkin, and oil and stir. Pour in the flour mixture and stir to combine.
Bake in greased mini muffin pan for 15 minutes (give or take). Roughly 20-25 minutes for regular sized muffins or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack and serve warm or cooled.
(Inspired by a recipe from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, http://www.eatwisconsincheese.com/recipes/article.aspx?rid=1618)
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