Wednesday, August 23, 2006

some time in the kitchen

you'll never guess what i made yesterday... haha. my sister thinks i'm gross...

let me back up and say: i always like to give erica a "real" breakfast. pancakes, french toast, eggs, oatmeal. something besides just cold cereal. the problem is, she's too impatient. there's no way i can get a batch of french toast or pancakes made soon enough. so i've started making three or four batches at a time and just freezing them. i even "portion control" by putting only three in a bag.

now, i also try to make things as "healthy" as possible. [i recently read a blog by 'liya where she went on about the junk parents feed their kids. i try very hard not to be like that!] so i make substitutions from the normal varieties. first of all, i use wheat bread for my french toast. some people may think that's gross, but oh well. Also i decided to add in a jar of pureed blueberries. It made my french toast purple, but at least it adds a bit of fruit.

my pancakes are totally different from the recipe. I use wheat flour. sometimes i'll use half white/ half wheat. but yesterday i used just wheat. Instead of putting oil in them, i use applesauce. [my sister was over last week and had some banana pancakes i had made. she could actually taste the applesauce in them. i've never noticed it, but ah well.] i figure that even though its just 2 tablespoons, i'll still make the substitution. it calls for one tablespoon of sugar-- i use splenda. [i read in Parents Magazine that splenda, in moderation, is fine for little kids.] And finally, i always add fruit. its different every time. i tried blueberries-- what a huge mess! often i'll use peaches or [as mentioned] bananas.

WELL-- back to my initial comment. You'll never guess what i made! i added something extremely odd to my pancakes. awhile ago i saw a recipe for it but never gave it a shot. well, i finally did. i put in shredded carrots!!! crazy, i know. They are extremely orange. But you know what??? they taste good! you actually can hardly taste the carrot. it doesnt have a really strong flavor to it.

i considered trying zucchini next, but decided against it. I have my Zucchini cookies; thats good enough. they're pretty good. again, i used splenda. And theres not really butter/oil because the zucchini is so moist. Erica really liked them-- until her daddy started feeding her animal cracker cookies. Now she wont eat the zucchini ones. arggg. Ah well.

6 comments:

Becky L said...

you'll never believe what i just baked-- "fudge filled brownie bars." YUCK!

andrew's B-Day is tomorrow, and at work the people always bring in a snack to celebrate. so he found this recipe and asked me to make it. the bottom is a flour/butter/br. sugar mixture. then you pour on brownie batter. then you top it with melted chocolate chips. seeing as i dont even like chocolate that much, i find it to be QUITE overpowering.

after that, i decided to iron my white skirt for tonight. i dont think i ever shared this-- i've decided to be a "skirt" person. i hate wearing shorts, and i find that skirts are just as breezy and cool. Anyway, as i was ironing, the iron was leaving black spots on my pretty white skirt. So i decided to stop. And then-- i lost my grip on the iron and it fell, landing on my arm on its way down. Luckily all it touched was my arm. But it sure does hurt!

Anonymous said...

carrots?? seriously...thats nasty

Anonymous said...

my favorite pancakes are chocolate chip pancakes! :) i know there not good for you at all but they taset soooo good.
that picute of Erica is adorable.
Tell Andrew I said Happy Birthday.

p.s. read my xanga!

'liya said...

Your pancakes sound yummy! Good for you for trying to make Erica healthy wherever possible :) Sounds like you're doing a good job, those few extra steps that you take will really benefit her.

.. and she looks adorable in the picture!

Carrots can actually be sweet too ( I like carrot juice, I know some people might think that's gross but it's pretty good).

Becky L said...

--Myself: too bad about that burn. hope it feels better!

--Janelle: thanks for stopping by! and btw, they arent nasty. they taste rather good.

--Val: yeah, andrew loves choco chip pancakes too. i hardly ever make them though, b/c he rarely eats breakfast.

--clairissa: thanx for the input. Like i said, i dont use it too much.

--'liya: i never had carrot juice. before i may have thought: "gross!" but once i saw how good the pancakes are, i can see how the juice may be good.

Anonymous said...

awww a cute puzzled look :) Is that a milk bottle? cuteeeeeeee