Side Note: Lately, I have complained on Facebook about getting produce at the store, only to find mold inside the pepper, or fruit going bad within a few days. I am tired of it! So, today we took a family outing to the Farmer's Market here in town where we got lots of good stuff for only $9! Take a look at our loot:
Yes, I was pretty impressed. But anyways, this was my motivation to start the deception process. Basically, what Jessica tells you to do is to steam or roast veggies, puree them, bag them up, freeze them or put them in the fridge, and then use them in your recipes. The cookbook has lots of different recipes, but you can also go online for more (www.deceptivelydelicious.com), OR just add it to stuff you already make. SO, my magic bullet and I got to work. And it was fun. And now I want to puree things. A lot of things. I even made a smoothie after this was over...and it was good. Okay, so if you're interested and don't want to run out and get her cookbook (which is awesome), here are her basic steps.
1. Well, first you wash the veggies (or get a cute little someone to do it for you).
2. Prepare the vegetables to be cooked, or fruit to be puree'd. How you do this depends on the veggie/fruit you're using, of course.
3. Cook the vegetables. (The book tells you how to steam, roast, or even microwave specific veggies in a way that maintains their nutrients.) You can use a rice steamer, collapsible steamer, or pasta pot with a drainer basket for this.
4. Puree! This is where you need a food processor, magic bullet or blender. She recommends blending most things for about 2 minutes.
5. Portion and package the purees. (Jessica recommends 1/2 cup or even 1/4 cup portions to put in ziploc baggies.) You refrigerate the ones you plan to use in the following few days, and freeze the rest.
6. Cook using your purees in the recipes! (She even has desserts with purees.) After the squash, I pureed some strawberries we picked a while back that have been in my freezer. :)
So there are tons of great things I could say about this cookbook....it has a list of necessities, step-by-step instructions, and even tells the benefits of each kind of fruit and veggie. I highly recommend it.
We will see how this goes! I'll let you know how well I hide the nutrition. ;o)
A super simple recipe for an after-I-puree-everything yummy fruit smoothie (from the Magic Bullet book):
~a cup of ice
~a handful of strawberries
~a banana (I used a half of a banana)
~a splash of orange juice
~and this is not in the recipe, but of course, I added about a scoop of orange sherbet which made it SO much better! :)
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