Delicious Deception

This week has been food week in our bouse. I love to bake and create in the kitchen, but I'm ready for a short break. Tuesday morning Melyssa called me to see if I'd be up for a trip to the farmer's market downtown. She had recently gotten the book "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld (yes, Jerry's wife). The basis of this book is how to sneak veggies, beans and fruits into your family's foods to make them eat more healthily without their knowledge. Well, I don't know if in the long run this is the best method for raising healthy children, but it can't hurt, either. I didn't have the book when we made the trip to the market, but I have since purchased it (6.99, TJ Maxx! ).
We got some smokin' good deals on food. For less than $90, we bought 50 lbs of carrots, 50 lbs of apples, about 80 bananas, about 15 bunches of broccoli, and large boxes of sweet potatoes and red bell peppers. Jessica Seinfeld suggests you puree and freeze your veggies and fruits ahead of time so they are ready to use. Sounds easy enough, but takes FOREVER. I still have several carrots, two big bags of peppers, and a bag of broccoli to puree in my fridge.

We also bit the bullet and purchased a wheat/grain grinder this week. I've been using my mom's since we moved here, so it will be awesome to have my own.

And last night we were given a HUGE chest freezer, so now I can store all my extra little puree pouches in the basement and still have room for chicken nuggets, fish sticks, and other less-healthy offerings in the kitchen fridge's freezer.

I made this carrot bundt cake for the family that gave us the freezer. I 1 1/2x'ed the recipe and made a loaf for our family. It was DELICIOUS. And I was able to make a tiny dent in my carrot supply:

Carrot Bundt Cake

Ingredients:
3 cups whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 cups sugar + 1 cup sugar substitute
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cup salad oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups packed shredded carrots
1 cup applesauce
1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
Directions:Begin about 4 hours before serving or early in the day: Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease and flour 10-inch Bundt pan.

In large bowl, with spoon, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. In small bowl, with fork, beat eggs slightly; stir in oil and vanilla. Stir egg mixture, shredded carrots, walnuts, and applesauce into flour mixture just until flour is moistened.

Spoon batter into pan, spreading evenly. Bake 1 hour and 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on wire rack to cool completely.

Prepare confectioners sugar icing: In bowl, with spoon, mix confectioners sugar and 5 teaspoons water until smooth and an easy spreading consistency. Place cake on platter. With spatula, spread confectioners sugar icing on cake.

Workouts this week :
Tuesday: Biked 18 miles on the stationary and did full-body weights
Wednesday: Ran 7.5 miles in the COLD morning air. I think it was 18 degrees.
Thursday: Biked 16 miles on the stationary while watching Fresh Prince.
Friday: Ran 5 miles. Middle 3 were at a 7:15-7:40 pace. The temp was about 49 this morning--felt GREAT. I plan to squeeze some weights in tonight.