Deceptively Evil Genius

I was taught at an early age how to cook and mostly from scratch. I loved it. The measuring, the mixing, the stirring, the letting my mom clean up the mess afterwards. And I would dream of the day that I would be cooking for my very own family and they would love everything I made.

Fast forward about a decade. A typical menu for any given day consists of frozen waffles, Kraft Easy Mac, instant potatoes, pb&j in a bowl, a banana or two, and an ice cream sandwich. For Maddie. Believe me, I know how terrible it is.

How did it get to this point? It's true- I blame Justin for a lot of it. But there is also the convenience factor. And the fact that Maddie is 3 and is just as stubborn as her dad about veggies.

I borrowed Deceptively Delicious from a friend. I saw her on Oprah and really wanted to try some of her recipes. And this book is chock full of them. But none that include instant potatoes, easy mac, or salmon patties.

So I started making up my own recipes using the basic premise of hiding veggies. In overly processed food. Guess what? IT WORKS!!! Butternut squash goes really well in pancake mix and Easy Mac. I had to tell Maddie that her pancakes were orange because it was fall, but that was her only concern with it. When it is pureed and stirred in with the other cheese, it looks just like the goo that becomes Kraft Easy Mac. But the real test came tonight.

Mashed potatoes and salmon patties. I added almost a cup of cooked, finely pureed cauliflower to the mashed potatoes. Chopped broccoli went in the salmon patties. I was scared. What if it's terrible? They might never trust me to make a decent meal again. What if Justin sees the broccoli? Oh, I feel so bad about this. I shouldn't lie about food. Especially to Justin. About his absolute favorite meal. I'll never do this again. Never. Ever.

I GOT HUGS, PEOPLE!!! And I'm doing it again tomorrow.