hidden food, slow food, etc.

It's been a while since I've posted about food! Everyone knows my weirdness about food. Love cooking, love baking, but it better be healthy.... =)

So, how was I the only person on the planet who didn't know about the book Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld? I hardly ever buy nonvegan cookbooks anymore, so when I saw this at the Nex I was surprised that I was considering purchasing it. I talked myself out of it the first day, only to come back a week later to go ahead and buy it. I mean seriously, hiding pureed veggies into foods? Why didn't I think of that?! Now, C will try just about any vegetable... try, but not necessarily eat a whole serving. So, this definitely piqued my interest.

Honestly, the main reason I bought it was for the whole first part about what veggies to use for purees and how long to cook them. With the recipes, I figured I could veganize the ones I wanted to try. I've made the tacos, the pink pancakes (made with beets,) and the tofu cutlets so far. Beyond that, I have been basically adding pureed veggies to anything and everything that I cook. My spaghetti now has either extra carrots or squash included, and that basil pesto pasta that C loves? haha, it's got broccoli. =)

This has been very helpful making quick food (i.e. pasta) healthier since I've started going to cardio class at 5:30 PM. In my opinion, that's the worst time for a class, since it's our dinner time, but if I want to go I have to work around it. So, I had been cooking around 4:00 - 4:30 so that we could eat around 5:00. Thankfully, the class is literally across the street from our house! I hate to admit, we had spaghetti quite a few times in the past few months. LOL One week, I remember making it twice within a few days, and T said, "Spaghetti again?"

"Hey! I gotta hurry," I said, "and I added a salad this time, so it's special!" heh.

Lately, though, I've been trying to solve the time crunch problem by using my crockpot instead of resorting to quick cooking pasta. Love the crockpot! Yesterday, we had a South African Bobotie type dish from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. I served it with some green beans, and it was yummy. Everyone liked it. Today we had a BBQ vegetables dish from the same book, again, a keeper. Tomorrow, I'm trying a slow cooker potpie. I'm really enjoying it because it allows me to cook when I still have energy (mid morning or lunch time,) and I can leave it to cook all day when I'm at base (like today,) and have time to actually eat instead of cook right before workouts and Bible study! Very nice. I'm also hoping to try a few recipes from A Year of Crockpotting. She has a few vegetarian recipes I thought looked pretty good.

I'm also going to be making my first loaf of bread soon! I've been meaning to for a while, but just haven't set the time aside to do it. I'm hoping this weekend will be it. Hopefully, I'll get good enough at my basic recipe, so I can start searching A Year in Bread for some more exciting recipes. =D

So, those are my food adventures lately. OH! and this recipe will be made very very soon: Chocolate Covered Cherry Pudding over at Fatfree Vegan Kitchen. Oh, go take a look, that recipe looks absolutely divine!