Trick or Treat?
Editor’s note: Welcome to our newest contributor Beth Bader! Check out her info in the bio section, and please go visit her blog.
(Cupcake originally uploaded by expatkitchen)
As far as the whole kid vs. vegetable thing goes, I play it pretty straight — no tricks. Yes, every lunch and dinner plate I serve has a vegetable on it. Usually more than one. If there is a vegetable in a dish, I tell the little one it’s in there. She’s under three, sure, but she should learn about what she’s eating. It works better in the long run to involve her.
It doesn’t work all of the time. I get rejections. The average child has to be exposed to a new food up to fifteen times before they may like it. I have to stay in the game, and when the going gets tough, well, the hard-headed get creative. You can put a vegetable that works without pureeing into nearly any kind of dish and for any meal of the day, even breakfast. Everything from main courses like meatloaf to a delicious dessert.
In fact, Halloween is probably the easiest time of the year to serve up veggie-treats like pumpkin bread, pie, cookies, and even pumpkin waffles. But why leave it at just pumpkin? Here’s two of my new favorite treats that may give you some ideas. Both of them use more vegetable than any other ingredient. And they just may get your kids to find vegetables frighteningly good.
Ginger-Carrot Raisin Cupcakes
For the dry ingredients, mix together:
1 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon whole wheat flour
1/2 tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
For the “wet” ingredients, cream together:
1 cup brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp. orange extract
1/2 cup canola oil (or you can sub in 1/2 cup applesauce)
Fold in last:
3 1/2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup raisins
2 tbs. chopped crystallized ginger
For the frosting:
4 oz. 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
4 tbs. butter, softened
1 tsp. orange extract
2 cups powdered sugar
Preheat the oven 350 degrees.
Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Using a mixer, cream together the wet ingredients for one minute. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined well. Add the carrots, raisins, and ginger, and mix again just until combined. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups. Bake for about 30 minutes or just until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool before frosting.
For the frosting, cream together all the ingredients in the mixer on medium-high speed until light. Frost and decorate as desired.
Chocolate-Walnut Zucchini Bread
Dry Ingredients:
1 3⁄4 cup flour
1⁄2 tbs. baking powder
1⁄2 tsp. baking soda
1⁄2 tsp. kosher salt
4 tbs. cocoa powder
Cream together:
3 eggs
1⁄2 cup sugar
1⁄2 cup brown sugar
1⁄2 cup canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla
Fold in:
3 cups grated zucchini
1 cup dark chocolate (bittersweet) chips
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grate the zucchini and set aside to drain. Mix together the dry ingredients, blending well. Using a mixer, cream the “wet” ingredients and sugars. Slowly add the dry ingredients until just blended. Squeeze out the excess moisture from the zucchini before adding. Fold in the zucchini, chocolate chips and nuts. Put batter into a standard loaf pan.
Bake for about one hour. The water content of the zucchini can vary, so check the bread. If a toothpick inserted in the top and center comes out clean, it should be done. I baked mine for closer to 90 minutes, so you have to watch it. The final product is incredibly moist, more like bread pudding bread than bread. Lovely. The surprise here is that both recipes use the vegetable as the main ingredient. They also use less oil than many baked goods because of the high moisture content you get from the carrots or squash.
