Continuing on with Sneaky Weeky, we’ll be making Mexican Muffins today. First, we’ll get our ingredients together.

That’s eggs, egg white (well, eggbeaters since I didn’t have egg whites), cheddar cheese, salsa, tortillas, and the white puree. First we’ll crack open the eggs and mix in the egg whites egg beaters and puree.

Next, we’ll mix in a cup of cheese and a cup of salsa.

Now that the filling is done, let’s get the tortillas ready. First spray them with cooking spray on both sides.

Next, push them into a muffin tin. (Be careful not to rip them!)

Pour in some of the egg mixture and top with cheese.

Now bake it at 350 for 20 – 22 minutes. Take it out and enjoy!

When NHL and JSL bit into these, they didn’t realize that there was any cauliflower or zucchini (the white puree) involved. For all they knew, this was just eggs and cheese in a tortilla shell. However, success quickly evaporated when NHL spotted some peppers from the salsa. He quickly rejected the whole thing and JSL, copying his brother, rejected it as well. I made it again another day, this time leaving off the salsa, and had a little better luck. B and I liked both the salsa and salsa-less versions.

NHL used to be such a good eater. He would eat just about anything we gave him. Then, around when he turned two and a half, his culinary adventureness shut down. Suddenly, he developed a list of “approved” foods and vegetables were definitely *NOT* on the list.

When I first heard about Missy Chase Lapine, The Sneaky Chef, I’ll admit I was skeptical. The idea of sneaking the veggies into him just didn’t sound right. I wanted him growing up knowing that carrots, sweet potatoes, zucchini, and cauliflower were tasty as well as good for you.

Missy explained in her book, however, that sneaking the veggies wasn’t a substitute for giving kids stand alone vegetables. However, you won’t need to turn broccoli into a battle. You will know that the rest of the meal has some hidden goodness so your child will be getting good nutrients whether or not they eat their veggies. Without a ton of pressure, kids might actually be more likely to eat some of their overt veggies.

I purchased her first book and tried out a few of the recipes. I found that, sure enough, my kids couldn’t tell what was in them. So when I heard that Missy had a new book out, I just had to try it. Missy’s new book is called The Sneaky Chef to the Rescue: 101 All-New Recipes and “Sneaky” Tricks for Creating Healthy Meals Kids Will Love.

“To The Rescue” contains some improvements from the original Sneaky Chef. For example, recipes include nutritional information now. We took it out from the library and I tried a few of the recipes. As with the first book, my children didn’t realize what was hidden in their food. Whether it was wheat germ, yams and carrots in the chocolate chip bon bons or cauliflower and zucchini in the eggs, they were none the wiser. And lest you think that you need to make everything from scratch, Missy showed how to take box mixes for everything from pancakes to cake and add additional hidden goodness.

There were so many good recipes, in fact, that I decided to buy the book. It turns out that being sneaky can be good for your kids, and quite delicious to boot. I look forward to making many more sneaky meals for my children. In fact, I would recommend it for families with picky eaters of any age.

Disclaimer: This review consists of entirely my own opinion. I didn’t receive anything in compensation for this review, but decided to review the book (and recipes) because I honestly enjoyed it.

Yesterday, I introduced Sneaky Weeky and showed you how to make two purees. Today, we’re going to put one of them to good use. First, let’s gather our ingredients.

That’s peanut butter, the orange puree, rolled oats (not instant), wheat germ, chocolate chips and sprinkles. Quite an ecclectic mix there, isn’t it. First, let’s put the puree and peanut butter into a bowl and mix them together.

Next, we’ll add in the wheat germ, rolled oats and chocolate chips and mix it all together.

Next, put some sprinkles on a plate. Scoop up teaspoon sized portions, roll them into balls and roll them in the sprinkles. You could also dust them with powdered sugar or cinnamon and sugar instead of using sprinkles. After rolling, wrap them in plastic wrap and stick them in the freezer.

Now snacking is as simple as taking them out and letting them thaw. You could pack a couple of these for a child’s lunch and they should be fine by snacktime. The kids will think they’re delicious because of the chocolate chips and sprinkles. They won’t realize that they’re getting fiber from the wheat germ or vitamins from the orange puree. In fact, they won’t even know that the wheat germ or puree are there.

Shhhh….. Be vewy vewy quiet! I’m bein’ sneaky. huh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh

Thank you, Elmer. I hereby declare this week Sneaky Weeky at TechyDad.com. I’m going to use this week to celebrate The Sneaky Chef in both book review form and in three segments of Cooking With TechyDad (the first of which starts in a few moments). So please join with me as I slink into the kitchen to cook a few sneaky meals.

*sneaks into the kitchen*

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I love cooking.  You can probably tell that from my Cooking With TechyDad segments (which I have been, admittedly, slacked off on).  I love to try new recipes and even new foods.  However, this urge to try new things doesn’t always work well with a six year old and a two year old.  NHL would be happy if I just microwaved chicken nuggets half the time and made pizza the other half.  JSL would be delighted if we served him Macaroni and Cheese seven days a week, three meals a day.

Obviously, I’d like them to learn better eating habits than chicken nuggets, pizza and macaroni and cheese, but getting them to eat other things can be an uphill battle – even when the food is something they like.  Recently, I made a recipe from Sneaky Chef’s new cookbook The Sneaky Chef to the Rescue: Mexican Muffins.  Basically, the recipe is eggs and cheese baked in tortillas pressed into a muffin tin.  Unbeknownst to NHL and JSL, however, I had added a cauliflower/zucchini puree to the mix.  You can’t taste it, but it adds some additional nutrients.

The first batch went well until they discovered peppers from the salsa the recipe called for.  The next batch, which I just made Thursday night, omitted the salsa but wound up being rejected "just because."  JSL picked as his meal and eventually, with my help, ate some of his eggs.  NHL, however, decided that he didn’t want eggs and hooted and hollered for an alternative. We refused (knowing that he likes eggs) and he continued to scream.  We do provide alternatives when we know dinner is something he doesn’t like, but he doesn’t get alternatives if dinner is something we know he likes.

Sending him to his room to calm down didn’t help.  The screams coming from the other room included some choice quotes like "you need to go to jail" and "Mommy and Daddy should be arrested" (presumably for not catering to his every whim).  This tantrum was partially fueled by his allergy medicines and partially by him being tired, but dinnertime temper tantrums (or at least refusals to eat) seem to be getting more common.

My Aloha Friday question is:  Is your child a picky eater?  What do you do when your child demands something different from what you’ve prepared?  How do you defuse an all-out temper tantrum?

By the way, a full Cooking With TechyDad on the Mexican Muffins and a Sneaky Chef book review are in the works.  For now, I’ll tease you with this photo:

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #12

Sesame Street turns 40 today.  It is hard to believe that it’s been around that long.  I have many fond memories growing up watching Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Oscar, and, of course, my personal favorite: Grover.  I even had a had a stuffed Grover that I took with me everywhere (and, unfortunately, suffered all kinds of kid-induced abuses).

Nowadays, it is my children who watch Sesame Street.  My parents, continuing a tradition, even purchased a stuffed Grover for NHL a few years back.  And while NHL might be growing too old to be interested in Sesame Street, JSL is just entering his prime Street years.  He already loves all of the characters, especially Cookie Monster.  He loves getting a cookie, saying "COOKIE" (with quite a good Cookie Monster imitation) and chowing down like Cookie Monster does.  Of course, this is all despite my repeated pleas to slow down his eating.  After all, Cookie Monster isn’t exactly a paragon of table manners.

Here’s wishing Sesame Street many more years decades of sunny days, sweeping the clouds away.  Here’s a small (and by no means complete) selection of my favorite Sesame Street moments.

Grover Serves Mr. Johnson:

Put Down The Duckie:

The Alligator King:

And, a more recent one, NPR Interviews Cookie Monster.  What are your favorite Sesame Street moments?