Brownies

These are probably the least fattening brownies you will ever have (without fake ingredients or chemicals to make it "low fat")...133 calories per bar and 3 grams of fiber. These aren't gooey like regular brownies but are more cake-y. But the flavor is really yummy. The purees are spinach and carrots (I didn't have any carrots on hand the second time I made these so I used applesauce instead and it still was good). Jessica Seinfeld wrote on this recipe to let them cool all the way to let the spinach taste completely disappear. We couldn't wait that long and we didn't notice the spinach taste.

3 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (I used chocolate chips)
1/2 cup carrot puree
1/2 cup spinach puree
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 T butter
2 t. vanilla
2 large egg whites (I added a yolk just cause I didn't want to waste it)
3/4 cup flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 8x8 inch pan with cooking spray. Melt the chocolate either in double boiler or microwave (on low heat). In large bowl, combine the melted chocolate, vegetable purees, sugar, cocoa powder, butter, and vanilla and whisk until smooth and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in egg whites. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt with a wooden spoon. Pour the batter into the pan and bake 35 to 40 minutes (I reduced it to about 20 minutes so they weren't too dry). Cool completely in the pan before cutting into bars.

Pink Pancakes

This recipe is from the cookbook Deceptively Delicious and is the first recipe I've made where the puree is a little strong. So picky eaters probably won't like this one. But if you have eaters that are pretty good at trying new things, this is a good one. We thought they were pretty tasty. I always like to try something a little different. The puree in this one is beets.

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 cup beet puree (I just realized I put in half a cup of puree so maybe that is why the flavor was a bit strong. We thought it was still pretty tasty)

1 t. pure vanilla extract

1/2 t. cinnamon

1 cup pancake mix

1/4 cup grated apple

1 T vegetable oil

In a blender or food processor, combine the water, ricotta cheese, beet puree, vanilla, and cinnamon and blend. Dump the mixture into a medium bowl, add the pancake mix and apple, and stir until just combined. Do not overmix - the batter will be a little lumpy.

Coat griddle or nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat. When hot, add the oil. Spoon the batter onto the griddle or skillet, using about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook the pancakes until the batter is set, 1 to 2 minutes. Then flip the pancakes and cook until golden brown on the other side, 2-3 minutes. Serve warm, with syrup. Yum!

Applesauce Muffins

My friend gave me the cookbook Deceptively Delicious so I thought I would do a little series on the recipes we tried and liked. If you're not familiar with the cookbook it's a book based on sneaking veggies (by making purees) and fruits into recipes to add a few extra vitamins and minerals to your kids foods (Jessica Seinfeld is the creator of the cookbook...Jerry Seinfeld's wife). So if you have really picky eaters they may not enjoy these recipes because they do have different flavors that they may not like. I was looking for recipes of veggies that my kids normally don't eat...butternut squash, zucchini, spinach, beets. And since I'm making Ansley's babyfood, it was easy to use some of that for the purees. So this is the first recipe that we really enjoyed. It was a great breakfast treat!

TOPPING
2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 t. cinnamon
2 T butter

BATTER
1 1/2 cups flour (I always add flax seed to my recipes so I put 1/2 cup flax seed and 1 cup flour)
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butternut squash or carrot puree (I used butternut squash for this one)
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray cupcake pan or use paper liners. To make topping, stir together the oats, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in butter. To make the batter, combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. In a second bowl, mix applesauce with milk, vegetable puree, sugar, oil, and egg with wooden spoon. Add the flour mixture slowly, stirring until just moistened. Do not overmix-the batter is supposed to be lumpy. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle with the streusel topping. Bake until the topping is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

Birthday Quiche

Jason made me this quiche for my birthday and it was the best quiche I have ever had. I think the key ingredient is the feta cheese. He got it off the Internet and I don't know what the link is. But here's the recipe:

~ 1/2 cup butter
~ 3 cloves garlic, chopped
~ 1 small onion, chopped (sweet onions are best)
~ 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
~ 1 (4.5 ounce) can mushrooms, drained
~ 1 (6 ounce) package herb and garlic feta, crumbled (we just used regular feta)
~ 1 (8 ounce) package shredded Cheddar cheese
~ salt and pepper to taste
~ 1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust
~ 4 eggs, beaten
~ 1 cup milk
~ salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Saute garlic and onion in butter until lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Stir in spinach, mushrooms, feta and 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon mixture into pie crust.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and milk. Season with salt and pepper. Pour into the pastry shell, allowing egg mixture to thoroughly combine with spinach mixture.
Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Sprinkle top with remaining Cheddar cheese, and bake an additional 35 to 40 minutes, until set in center. Allow to stand 10 minutes before serving.