My Favorite New Cookbook

Lately I have been having a heck of a time getting the Abster to eat anything healthy, except of course bananas (which she calls bebes), yogurt, and applesauce. That might be all fine and dandy for a day, but this menu is ongoing. So I either play the tough guy and she starves and is very moody and cranky because she is hungry or I play the nice guy and give into the cookies, cheetos, and chocolate.

So last month on all the talk shows Jessica Seinfeld made a huge push for her cookbook, Deceptively Delicious. I thought wow, great idea! I decided that I could actually do it on my own. You know buy all the veggies and sneak them into our menu. Well I bought all the veggies, then didn't really know which veggie or how much to put in each. So my real great idea went stagnet.

Last week as I was out and about, I saw her book. I decided I needed more help than I originally anticipated. The Preas family has tried our second recipe and I absolutely love the cookbook. We had the macaroni and cheese with butternut squash and tonight we had the pancakes with beets, ricotta cheese, and apple (I substituted butternut squash, since I had some left for the beets). You totally couldn't tell the pancakes had all that at all. The best part of that was that she had protein, veggies, and fruit in one meal. She didn't eat all of her pancake, but she did eat about five bites. That's much better than other meals. I am having a little harder time convincing my other finicky eater, Mike, that it truly is good and I am not just saying that!

So as I sit here and click away on the keyboard, I am realizing the plaque on my kitchen wall is ringing true.... "Mirror, mirror on the wall, I'm becoming my mother after all!" So I guess I should now say, "Mom, thanks for loving your kids SO much that your pancakes consisted of either whole wheat, potato, or zucchini."

If your interested in the recipe, here it is.

Pink Pancakes
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup beet puree
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup pancake mix
1/4 cup grated apple
Nonstick cooking spray
1 Tbsp canola or vegetable oil
Maple syrup or fruit, for serving

Mix together water, ricotta cheese, beet puree, vanilla, and cinnamon. Next add the pancake mix and apple. Do not over mix.

Then just spoon them onto the griddle and cook. Serve warm with syrup or fruit.

Hope you enjoy!