Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Macaroni and Cheese (and SQUASH!!)

Is it wrong to get such a thrill out of sneaking my kids veggies? This is my fav sneaky lunch for the kids.


Ingredients
1 box Macaroni and Cheese (I like the Annies brand, cause it has no chemicals etc which would probably defeat the purpose of adding veggies...)
1 T. butter
1/3 cup milk
1/4-1/2 cup pureed butternut squash***

Make the mac like it says on the box...while the noodles are draining, melt the butter in the pot, add the milk and cheese and squash, salt to taste, extra cheese if you want till every thing is smooth, and dump in the noodles. TA DA! It's still orange, extra creamy, and slightly sweeter than regular Mac but that's usually ok with kids. Mwa ha ha ha.

***Note on the puree thingy...After reading and trying a few recipes from "Deceptively Delicious" and realizing that the concept was great, but the recipes needed a LOT of tweaking...I've gotten in the habit of buying squash, sweet potatos and other veggies once a month or so and baking them on one day, then pureeing and freezing in 1/2 cup segments. It sounds like a lot of work but really it's not, and a couple hours yeilds a month's of "supplements" for food. By a couple hours, I mean a few min of work cause all you do is put stuff in the oven and ignore it, then when it cools you puree it and freeze it.

3 comments:

Virginia Taylors said...

And that is why I love you..you brilliant thing.
My mom does the same thing every time we have mashed potatoes...adds squash. I love it that way now.

Sarah said...

PS Josh says "ewww...that's VILE" but frankly the proof is in the pudding...the kids eat it, and I like it. So it stays.

Vicki said...

I read the book Deceptively Delicious and was intrigued by the concept. I tried a few things with some leftover veggies and the kids never noticed, however, I never got so far as planning ahead and freezing pureed veggies. I think I'll just have to follow your wonderful example and try it--just don't let my kids know!:)