Have you heard of this book? It's by Jerry Springfield, no, Jerry Springer, no, Jerry McGuire, no!! Jerry Seinfeld!! That's the one! Jerry Seinfeld's wife. There is also one called The Sensible Chef. They have the same concept. Sneaking vegetables and fruits into their foods, especially for their kids. So, I've taken this concept and done alot of cooking with my purees. I just wanted to share some ideas that are so do-able and make your eating lifestyle sooo healthy, without anyone realizing it! And actually makes cooking really quick! I made my spaghetti & sauce in 20minutes yesterday!
First of all, you have to make your menu and write down what puree is going into what (see below)
Then, do your grocery shopping. My most recent trip included 4 green bell peppers, 3 yellow, 3 red. 4 squash and 4 zucchini and a bag of carrots. The next day I cleaned all the veggies, I "skinnend" the carrots and I pureed each of them in a a large pot. (all bell peppers together, zucchini and squash together and carrots by themselves.) After the first batch of veggies was steamed, I pureed it in the blender, w/ about 1/4c of water, and started the next veggie steaming.
Once they were pureed, I measured out 1/2 cup and put them into ziplocks. I ended up with about 4 ziplocks of each bell pepper, 5-6 bags of the squash and zucchini and about 4-6 of the carrots. I did use the carrot immediately to make my kid's some carrot/apple sauce muffins. (I use natural apple sauce).
Oh, and don't forget, there is plenty of spices in these to make the flavor! Oregano, Parsley, Onion, Garlic, salt, soy sauce, paprika, etc. Whatever you need to make the flavor right. You can use Mrs. Dash or one of those amazing spices from HEB.
(each of the puree's are 1 bag = 1/2 cup unless otherwise stated)
Burgers - zucchini & red bell pepper puree
Spaghetti sauce - zucchini, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, 1cup of squash, 1-10oz can tomato paste (i used the left over zucchini burgers instead of meat balls)
Pizza - I used the left over sauce on mini-pizza's on english muffins with turkey pepperoni.
Guacamole - My son LOVES guacamole, veggies, not so much. His guacamole contains 1 part avocado: 1 part zucchini puree OR 2 parts avocado:1 part green pea puree. (again, don't forget the spices!)
Salsa - I buy the Wholly Salsa or Walmart's MarketFresh salsa, but I add zucchini puree or squash puree or red bell pepper puree...or a little bit of all of them 1:1 ratio. My son doesn't know the difference, he eats it ALL up and loves every bite!
Salad Dressing - zucchini puree, squash puree, red bell pepper puree, then I add 1-2Tbsp rice wine vinegar or cider vinegar and 1-2 Tablespoon of sweetener.
Fruity Vinegraitte Salad Dressing - raspberry, strawberry, and blueberry, puree, acai vinegar or balsamic vinegar with cider vinegar and a tablespoon of sweetener (I use frozen strawberry's and blueberry's a lot.)
Fruity Crystal Light - Ok, if you're not a "sweetener" kinda of person, then you may want to change this a little bit, but we don't have a ton of sweetener, so I think it's okay for us.
1 large pitcher (more than 2 quarts-preferably 4 quarts
Crystal Light - lemonade or limeade flavored (it can be pink lemonade or regular, limeade or margarita flavored)
Add 3 quarts or 3.5 quarts of water (I add extra water to mine).
1 big squeeze of lime juice (4 fresh or 1/3 of the lime shaped bottle)
About 2-3cups of frozen strawberries (I just fill the container up. The more the better.)
Popsicles - Once the crystal light is gone, if no one has eaten the strawberries at the bottom, I puree them, and pour them into popsicle containers. Fresh popsicles!!!!
For those that love a good protein shake, I'll just give you one good one, especially if you have a scrawny little athletic kid - kinda like mine.
Cherry Protein Icee - Cherry Crystal Light (premade in a pitcher - follow the directions) just add 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder, and 1-2cups of ice cubs. Put it all in a blender and bam! Cherry Protein Icee! Tastes just like the one from the convenient store, but less sugar and more protein!
(I know it has no puree in it, but you can always add a fruit, like the recipe above.)
OMG, ridiculously delicious dessert! Not the healthiest, by any means, but It's good!
Dessert Quesadilla
4 tortillas - whole wheat obviously is the healthier choice
4 tsp of butter (I use Smart Balance Light with olive oil w/ flax - it's dairy free)
4 tsp sugar or sweetener if you can handle that
cinnamon to sprinkle
1/3 - 1/2 bag of mini marshmallows
1 cup pureed bananas
2-4 Tbsp chocolate syrup (optional)
Melt the marshmallows in a pan on med/low heat (I used coconut oil on the sides to keep it from sticking).
When the marshmallows were half way melted I added in the banana. When it was all melted I added the chocolate syrup. This can be used as a dip or the filling for the tortillas.
Put tortillas in a skillet on low heat. Heat 1 side, then flip. Spread butter, sugar and cinnamon on 1 side of the tortilla.
Take the tortilla off and either fill it with marshmallow dip and make a dessert-quesadilla or cut the tortillas into triangles and dip into the marshmallow dip.
ENJOY!!!
First of all, you have to make your menu and write down what puree is going into what (see below)
Then, do your grocery shopping. My most recent trip included 4 green bell peppers, 3 yellow, 3 red. 4 squash and 4 zucchini and a bag of carrots. The next day I cleaned all the veggies, I "skinnend" the carrots and I pureed each of them in a a large pot. (all bell peppers together, zucchini and squash together and carrots by themselves.) After the first batch of veggies was steamed, I pureed it in the blender, w/ about 1/4c of water, and started the next veggie steaming.
Once they were pureed, I measured out 1/2 cup and put them into ziplocks. I ended up with about 4 ziplocks of each bell pepper, 5-6 bags of the squash and zucchini and about 4-6 of the carrots. I did use the carrot immediately to make my kid's some carrot/apple sauce muffins. (I use natural apple sauce).
Oh, and don't forget, there is plenty of spices in these to make the flavor! Oregano, Parsley, Onion, Garlic, salt, soy sauce, paprika, etc. Whatever you need to make the flavor right. You can use Mrs. Dash or one of those amazing spices from HEB.
(each of the puree's are 1 bag = 1/2 cup unless otherwise stated)
Burgers - zucchini & red bell pepper puree
Spaghetti sauce - zucchini, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, 1cup of squash, 1-10oz can tomato paste (i used the left over zucchini burgers instead of meat balls)
Pizza - I used the left over sauce on mini-pizza's on english muffins with turkey pepperoni.
Guacamole - My son LOVES guacamole, veggies, not so much. His guacamole contains 1 part avocado: 1 part zucchini puree OR 2 parts avocado:1 part green pea puree. (again, don't forget the spices!)
Salsa - I buy the Wholly Salsa or Walmart's MarketFresh salsa, but I add zucchini puree or squash puree or red bell pepper puree...or a little bit of all of them 1:1 ratio. My son doesn't know the difference, he eats it ALL up and loves every bite!
Salad Dressing - zucchini puree, squash puree, red bell pepper puree, then I add 1-2Tbsp rice wine vinegar or cider vinegar and 1-2 Tablespoon of sweetener.
Fruity Vinegraitte Salad Dressing - raspberry, strawberry, and blueberry, puree, acai vinegar or balsamic vinegar with cider vinegar and a tablespoon of sweetener (I use frozen strawberry's and blueberry's a lot.)
Fruity Crystal Light - Ok, if you're not a "sweetener" kinda of person, then you may want to change this a little bit, but we don't have a ton of sweetener, so I think it's okay for us.
1 large pitcher (more than 2 quarts-preferably 4 quarts
Crystal Light - lemonade or limeade flavored (it can be pink lemonade or regular, limeade or margarita flavored)
Add 3 quarts or 3.5 quarts of water (I add extra water to mine).
1 big squeeze of lime juice (4 fresh or 1/3 of the lime shaped bottle)
About 2-3cups of frozen strawberries (I just fill the container up. The more the better.)
Popsicles - Once the crystal light is gone, if no one has eaten the strawberries at the bottom, I puree them, and pour them into popsicle containers. Fresh popsicles!!!!
For those that love a good protein shake, I'll just give you one good one, especially if you have a scrawny little athletic kid - kinda like mine.
Cherry Protein Icee - Cherry Crystal Light (premade in a pitcher - follow the directions) just add 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder, and 1-2cups of ice cubs. Put it all in a blender and bam! Cherry Protein Icee! Tastes just like the one from the convenient store, but less sugar and more protein!
(I know it has no puree in it, but you can always add a fruit, like the recipe above.)
OMG, ridiculously delicious dessert! Not the healthiest, by any means, but It's good!
Dessert Quesadilla
4 tortillas - whole wheat obviously is the healthier choice
4 tsp of butter (I use Smart Balance Light with olive oil w/ flax - it's dairy free)
4 tsp sugar or sweetener if you can handle that
cinnamon to sprinkle
1/3 - 1/2 bag of mini marshmallows
1 cup pureed bananas
2-4 Tbsp chocolate syrup (optional)
Melt the marshmallows in a pan on med/low heat (I used coconut oil on the sides to keep it from sticking).
When the marshmallows were half way melted I added in the banana. When it was all melted I added the chocolate syrup. This can be used as a dip or the filling for the tortillas.
Put tortillas in a skillet on low heat. Heat 1 side, then flip. Spread butter, sugar and cinnamon on 1 side of the tortilla.
Take the tortilla off and either fill it with marshmallow dip and make a dessert-quesadilla or cut the tortillas into triangles and dip into the marshmallow dip.
ENJOY!!!
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