Food Tips Friday

Today's food tip: pureed spinach!

I mentioned the last time how I stir a bit of pureed spinach into boxed mac n cheese to make it a little healthier. But there are many other uses for pureed spinach! I steam it until wilted, put it in the food processor, and then freeze it in ice cube trays. Sometimes I will freeze a fourth to a half cup in a baggie as well.

Our favorite use for pureed spinach is in scrambled eggs. I thaw a cube or two and whisk it in while beating the eggs... a little grated cheese is very good in the scrambled eggs, too. The spinach is very obvious and not disguised at all, but for reluctant children, maybe it could be seen as "green eggs" like the Dr. Seuss book... I have also stirred it into egg casseroles and souffles.

I also like to stir some pureed spinach into spaghetti sauce (along with grated or pureed carrot sometimes). It becomes disguised this way unless you use a whole lot! I use the sauce for lasagne as well (look for lasagne in a future Food Tips Friday post).

I also like to make personal pita pizzas... take a small can of tomato sauce (I only use about half of it for four or so pitas and then freeze the rest) and stir in some pureed spinach. Then spread it on pita bread and cover with shredded mozerella and whatever toppings you would like. Bake it at 400 for just a few minutes. Yum!! This is a relatively quick hot lunch idea, especially if the cheese is already grated. Putting the pizzas on a foil-lined baking sheet is not a bad idea here... easier cleanup.

I have heard also that some people throw a little spinach into smoothies. I have not tried this myself, but it is not supposed to change the taste or color...

Anyone else have a use for spinach (pureed or not) that you'd like to share?

Food Tips Friday

I am always on the lookout for tips for making healthier foods for my family, especially the children, since kids don't always say, "Yum, broccoli with no cheese - can I have a third helping?" My girls are not picky, but they don't always just eat veggies straight either. If anyone else wants to join in, post tips in the comments each time I do a "Food Tips Friday" post, or do a post of your own on your blog and put the link in the comments. I love finding new tips!

So, the first tip from me:
Making macaroni and cheese healthier - this can be with a boxed macaroni or with homemade macaroni and cheese. I use the Annie's natural/organic boxed mac n cheese, but sometimes I can't find the whole wheat variety or the white pasta kind is on a great sale (like $1 a box!)... so I came up with this idea to make it more nutritious: steam some carrots and spinach separately, puree, freeze in ice cube trays, and then thaw a few cubes to stir in when mixing the noodles and sauce. I use two or three carrot cubes with one spinach cube. The other night, I made homemade mac n cheese and put a little more than a half cup of carrot puree in it, and it tasted great and definitely not strongly carrot-like. My kids ate it up. I have also added chopped sauteed leeks to mac n cheese and my kids eat it too, although not quite as much... it does change the taste and texture a bit more. The cookbook Deceptively Delicious has recipes for adding pureed cauliflower and butternut squash to mac n cheese, but Caroline will not eat these at all.

I do tell my kids what is in the recipes... I think that if they know at a young age, before they develop opinions of what they absolutely will not eat, then why "deceive" them about it? With older kids, maybe tell them after they eat it and like it a time or two... then they should still eat it because they know it taste good despite having a veggie in it! I have done this with my picky "baby" brother. ;)