Tuesday’s Tips & Tales or is it tails?
Posting at 8 pm is not in my blogging plans! Today has been one of ‘those’ kind of days…. this post was nearly done this morning … and again this afternoon … and tonight I deleted half of it twice??!! sigh! Apparently it is a “lesson learned day’ in the life of my new blog! I did not Seize My Day very well! I am very grateful for tomorrows when today feels like a wash!
Tips and Tales is my current idea for Tuesdays. I hope to blog useful tips I have discovered in my journey called life and I will attempt to tell a tale about something slightly comical in my life.
Today’s Tip: You can hide spinach in your baking!! You can give your family a bit more nutrition in a tasty way! You can hide many healthy foods in baking – beans, prunes, fruit or veggie purees – even BEETS! Jessica Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious cookbook is a great resource for tasty healthy cooking! Much to my families dismay, I have always liked to experiment with exchanging applesauce for sugars, lighter bake options for oils, and using healthy flours, etc. etc. Some of my own attempts fail miserably, while others are quite yummy! Jessica Seinfeld’s recipes help me find better ways to improve my baking skills while adding healthy foods. If you are looking for yummy ways to offer slightly healthier cooking and baking to your family – her cookbook is worth the investment!
Today I used My regular banana bread recipe and Jessica’s concepts : I simply exchanged lighter bake for the oil, I cut the sugar in half, I used 1/2 brown rice flour and 1/2 whole wheat white flour, and I added 1/2 cup very finely chopped spinach to the banana puree (if you puree spinach it creates odd colored food) and I have discovered the beauty in using a 2-3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder to hide the color & taste changes – and the kids love getting chocolate muffins. I even put an m&m on the top of each muffin!
After I get a bit more blogger savvy – I will actually post a link – but given my day today – I will simply give you the web address!
www.deceptivelydelicious.com
Today’s Tuesday Tale “tail”
Merlin is our adorable six month old Cocker Spaniel/King Charles Cavalier Spaniel puppy mix. (perhaps photos next week!) It is a good thing he is SO cute and happy or we would never survive his mischief! Puppy training is a 24/7 job! We have grown leaps and bounds in our training skills with the help of professional dog trainers, the Dog Whisperer, puppy books and from friends who have been here recently. But at the end of the day, Merlin is a puppy and will continue to need correction for a long time! Shoes have been our biggest challenge… mostly we keep them ‘out of sight’… but he finds ways to sneak away with them. Though he is corrected daily with stolen shoes, he just can’t help himself, they smell so yummy! This week he has been extra sneaky. Our puppy has discovered that he has more time to chew his stolen shoe when he quietly takes a shoe and sneaks into the kids ‘hide out’ under the stairs… Lets just say 3 out of 4 family members need new shoes this week! 😉