Be warned...

This morning I spent some of my time making cookies. I made oatmeal raisin cookies, and they are very yummy. But there are some secret ingredients. I added pureed bananas and pureed zucchini. You can smell and kind of taste the bananas, just because that's such a strong smell and taste, but nevertheless, the cookies are VERY good. I'm telling you, even Uncle Jim would like these! I got the book Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. She published all these very basic recipes, with pureed vegetables and fruits. So while the cookies were baking, I went ahead and steamed and pureed a bunch of carrots, zucchini, and also baked a butternut squash to puree.

Tonight we are going to have chicken quesadillas....with squash. Obviously John will eat pretty much any vegetable put in front of him, but Katie and I need a little coaxing. :) Hopefully this will help all of us eat a little better. Just think of the fiber in those cookies! Oatmeal, raisins, bananas, zucchini! I should have added some flax seed meal to it too, but that will wait til next time. Ground flax seeds are another one of my new additives lately. They have some protein, fiber, omega 3 fats and a couple tablespoons can be tossed into just about anything - pasta sauces, soups, and casseroles or baked dishes, etc.

So consider yourself warned...if you eat my food you may be getting more than you think you are. (Will ate the pureed zucchini for lunch and it was a big hit. :)) I am very excited to try some of the recipes like banana bread with cauliflour, pancakes with sweet potatoes, chicken nuggets with broccoli, angel food cupcakes with yellow squash, carrot frosting, etc. She suggests thinking past the recipies too and adding purees to boxed dinners. Anything to add some vitamins to our diet.

Also on the baking front I am planning on picking some rhubarb as soon as the wind dies down and we can get outside. :) We have 3 rhubarb plants in our yard and I want to make Carol's rhubarb cake. (So, I'll need the recipe Denise!)

Will and Katie had been 'fighting' over her trycicle one day so I brought up Katie's old push bike that she got a few years back. Will supprised us by sitting on it and pushing right off with his feet. He does really well on it!

The kids' birthdays are coming up in a few weeks and I had been looking for a picnic table for them. It feels like I have been looking FOREVER! I tried to catch a few on Craigslist, but they always got sold out from underneath me. So I broke down and ordered one. They were cheapest if I ordered directly from Little Tikes, so I did and it was delivered today. It's much too windy and nasty to spend any time on it outside, so for now it's inside. Will does pretty well sitting at it too - he hasn't fallen off yet anyway.