Orange Puree (or how to get the kids to eat vegies without them knowing it!)

Alright. I'm sneaky. I admit it. But things have gone from bad to worse with Daughter No. 1 and her flat refusal to eat vegetables. There was a time when she would at least take a few bites. But in the last couple of months, I'd have more chance of successfully cooking a gourmet meal for 10 people, than have her take so much as a sniff of a vegetable.

So, thanks to the shifty parents at http://parentcenter.com/, I found a great way to sneak those vegetables right under their noses, without them suspecting a thing.

It's called orange puree, and it's made by boiling sweet potato and carrot, and then blending it until it's a smooth puree. Then you just mix it into whatever you're serving them! How easy is that?

Then I divided it into portions of about 1/4 cup each and froze them in plastic bags. How cool! I served it with Cheesy Macaroni (also from the parentcenter website - man I love those guys!)

There's also white puree, made from doing the same thing with cauliflower. I'll try that one next time.

I'm a sneaky mum (and proud of it)!

Aaaargh!

You already know I hate cooking.

Just letting you know that I still do.

Suffice to say - overcooked vegetables, undercooked chicken, burnt garlic bread.

Okay, enough said.

For now.

Chicken Pie

As usual, I was rather lacking in motivation today. I was also rather lacking in ingredients. I had some chicken strips to make up into a stir fry, but no vegetables (yes it's shopping day tomorrow). I had visions of the four of us eating chicken on toast, or something equally distasteful. It wasn't looking promising. Until......my saviour came home from work.

We already know he's a great cook. He can cook almost anything from nothing, and it works every time. Well tonight, he outdid himself. He glanced calmly in the cupboard and the freezer as he chatted casually about his day. He wasn't stressed; he wasn't panicking; he wasn't me. He pulled a packet of fillo pastry out of the freezer and a Maggi sauce mix out of the cupboard. He continued to chat casually as he tossed the chicken into a pan and began stirring.

Thirty minutes later, there it was. The most delectable looking, smelling and tasting dish made from almost nothing, that I have ever tasted. Served in cute individual ramekins, the kids looked on it as a bit of a treat too. All eaten.

I knew I married him for a reason.