Now that I'm posting again I have the opportunity to tell the world my thoughts and inspirations! (Okay so the world being the 2 or 3 people who are reading this) It's just good to have them written down somewhere for future generations, right? Well whatever the reason here is my new favorite thing: hiding nutritional boosters in my recipes. It's actually been a new favorite for a while but since I'm just now writing about it, it is new all over again! I love the peace of mind it gives me to know that there is actually a nutritional value in the things my family chows down on! It all started with making my own baby food. After Elyssa started eating finger foods and wouldn't touch the puree, I had a bunch of veggie cubes in my freezer. Well there was no way I was throwing out something I'd worked that hard on so I just started tossing them into scrambled eggs. I was met with success! Lyssa loved those veggie eggs. (Yes after she had already devoured several I discovered that eggs aren't necessarily supposed to be introduced before a year, oops) Then my eyes were opened to other possibilities by the cookbooks; "Deceptively Delicious" and "The Sneaky Chef" (It's an old idea and several people have written about it). Lyssa isn't a veggie lover. She will eat carrots, soy beans, and corn. Sometimes she'll surprise us, but most of the time she convulses after her obligatory couple of bites. As much as I hate to admit it, I don't eat all that well either. So for starters, I've made it a habit to add a little cauliflower to my eggs, a little sweet potato to my waffles, and I make lasagna with both of those plus some spinach, and whole grain noodles. I added a little cauliflower and white bean puree to cheese sauce for mac and cheese and you could hardly taste it. That is not one I do all the time, however, because I don't have time to make my own sauce very often. If I weren't so lazy, I would also have tried a million others, but alas...
My recommendation for you is to add a "booster" to your own recipes. The Sneaky Chef makes it easy by categorizing them by color, like orange puree has several ingredients rather than just carrots or sweet potatoes. A booster might just be switching whole wheat flour instead of white, adding ground flax or wheat germ, or adding obvious ingredients like dried fruit and nuts to oatmeal. The names of the books are misleading. You are not devious or deceitful if you make your family's meals healthier, you are SMART! Like I said, start by making your own meals healthier then experiment with new recipes. I found that the recipes I tried in the books weren't all that fantastic but that doesn't mean I should toss out the idea altogether. Both books are filled with useful info on nutrition and make a great starting point. Let me know what your "boosters" are. I know some of you are way ahead of me in this area!
I don't know how many of you have seen this book, but I want to share it with you because it is one of Lyssa's favorites. It's an adorable book about a little girl named Bitsie who has trouble getting out bed. She rolls over, but "OVER IS NOT UP"! When her Daddy calls "in a bigger voice, 'Get up Bitsie!'", she yawns, stretches, and slips out of bed to run into Daddy's awaiting arms. 
