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.

Today on Cooking With TechyDad, we’re going to make a dessert pizza. First, let’s get our ingredients out.

Next, we place our pizza crust on a baking sheet and spread half a cup of peanut butter on top of it.

Now, pour a tablespoon of honey over it.

Follow that up with a half cup each of chocolate chips and marshmallows. (Yes, I used a bit more than a half of a cup.)

Now, pop it in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

After the 20 minutes are up, take the pizza out.

It’s already looking good, isn’t it?

Now, thinly slice a banana and place it over the top of the pizza.

Let the pizza cool for two minutes, then slice and eat.

This soup has become a favorite recipe of ours. Before trying this out, we shied away from dry beans in favor of canned. Now, however, we love buying dried bean packages to cook into our Multi-Bean Soup.

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On our trip to Disney World, we sampled many great foods. Everything from Morrocan to Canadian to, well, good-ol’ US of A food. The food that stuck in our minds the most, though, came from the hotel we stayed in. The Pop Century Resorts’ restaurant had Tie-Dye Cheesecake. A delicious, rich cheesecake, swirled with many different colors, was served atop a “crust” made from red velvet cake. *YUM!*

Being the cooking enthusiest that I am, I decided that I couldn’t let Tie-Dyed Red Velvet Cheesecake be just a fond Disney World memory. I *had* to make it myself. A quick Google search turned up this recipe over at Slashfood. If you follow my wife’s blog, you know that we made it and what the result was. Long story short, the cake, while good, was not what I was hoping for. Instead of a multi-colored cheesecake with red velvet crust, we got a red velvet cake with a multi-colored cheesecake icing. The basic recipe was sound. We just had to fiddle with the proportions. So we decided to halve the cake portion and double the cheesecake portion. We also decided to substitute red velvet cake for Strawberry cake.

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Finding good eggplants here is a rare occurance. Unfortunately, most eggplants I look at are bruised and/or squishy. So when I find good eggplants, I snatch them up. Last week, I found a pair of good looking eggplants so I bought them and tossed them into my fridge. Luckily, I had a recipe that I wanted to try them with.

I took the eggplants, peeled and sliced them and soaked them in salt water for 5 minutes to help remove the bitterness. Next, I combined some cottege cheese, eggbeaters, salt a pepper in one bowl and tomato sauce, basil and oregano in another. Then, in a non-stick cooking sprayed crockpot, I layered the eggplant, cottege cheese and sauce. Four hours on high later, it was dinner time.

B loved it. She declared it “amazing” and had seconds. In fact, she loved it so much, that my poor side dish (pasta with a tomato sauce, zucchini, broccoli and mushrooms) was pronounced “meh.” It wasn’t that she didn’t like the pasta, she did. It was that it just didn’t hold up in comparison to the eggplant.

Here are some photos of the results:

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And, of course, here is the all-important recipe:

Eggplant Italian

Book: Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly – Healthy, Low-Fat Recipes for Your Slow Cooker by Phyllis Pellman Good

Recipe by: Melanie Thrower

Makes 6-8 servings

(Ideal slow-cooker size: 4 or 5 quart; and oval cooker works best)

• 2 eggplants
• 1/4 cup eggbeaters
• 24 oz fat-free cottage cheese
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• black pepper to taste
• 14 oz can tomato sauce
• 2-4 Tbsp Italian seasoning, according to your taste preference (I used 1Tbsp dried Oregano and 1Tbsp dried Basil)

1. Peel eggplants and cut in 1/2″ thick slices. Soak in salt-water for about 5 minutes to remove bitterness. Drain well.
2. Spray slow-cooker with fat-free cooking spray.
3. Mix eggbeaters, cottage cheese, salt, and pepper together in bowl.
4. Mix tomato sauce and Italian seasoning together in another bowl.
5. Spoon a thin layer of tomato sauce into the bottom of slow cooker. Top with about one-third of the eggplant slices, and then one-third of the egg/cheese mixture, and finally one-third of the remaining tomato sauce mixture.
6. Repeat those layers twice, ending with seasoned tomato sauce.
7. Cover. Cook on high 4 hours. Allow to rest 15 minutes before serving.

Per Serving: 120 calories (10 calories from fat), 1g total fat (0g saturated, 0gtrans), 30mg cholesterol, 940mg sodium, 17g total carbohydrate (4g fiber, 11g sugar), 11g protein, 15% DV vitamin A, 4% DV vitamin C, 8% DV calcium, 4% DV iron.

Here’s wishing you good cooking!

Chef TechyDad

A couple of weeks ago, we were looking through the Sunday circular and came upon an ad for Hungry Jack products. Along with the ad was a recipe for Cheesy Potato Pancakes with Sausage. They sounded intriguing, so we decided to make them.  Of course, we keep a Kosher home, so sausage patties were out of the question.  Especially when combined with milk.  We substituted veggie sausage instead, so this recipe is both kosher and vegetarian:

Ingredients:
1 package Veggie Sausage Patties
1 cup Buttermilk "Just Add Water" Pancake Mix
1 1/2 cups Mashed Potato Flakes
2 1/2 cups milk
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

 First, I prepared my dry ingredients.

I put the pancake mix into a large bowl.

Then added the potato flakes.

Next, I prepared my wet ingredients.

I cracked the eggs into a glass bowl.

Added the milk,

The vegetable oil,

And whisked it all together.

After that, I poured the wet ingredients into the dry ones.

In went the carrots.

Then I took the veggie sausages (cooked in the microwave as per package directions)

And crumbled them.

I mixed it all together.

Into the oil it went.

Turn it over.

Some cheddar to put on top.

Finished product with melted cheese (via microwave) and syrup.

All in all, this was a pretty good dish.  I did omit a few ingredients to either try to make it more palatable for kids (e.g. onions) or to make it easier to keep kosher (Parmesan cheese – hideously expensive for the kosher stuff).  Next time, I’ll put the onions in, put the syrup in the mix, and maybe even spring for kosher Parmesan cheese.