Good idea, I'll have to see if I can come up with some good contributions.

Great idea. I made Butternut squash soup on Sunday and I plan on eating leftovers for lunch all week long that was fantastic.

Here it is:

1T Olive Oil
2 Cups Chopped Onion
1t curry powder
6 Cups (about 2 1/2 pounds) Diced Butternut Squash
2 Granny Smith Apples - peeled and cut into bite size chunks
1/2t Thyme
2 15 oz Cans White Beans, drained and rinsed (I personally try to find low sodium version but don't have to since you do rinse them really good in a strainer)
1/2t salt
4 Cups Low-sodium Vegetable Broth
2 Cups Water

In a soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and curry powder and cook 3 minutes.
Add the butternut squash, apples, thyme, white beans, salt, vegetable broth, and water. Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and cook until squash is very tender (about 15 minutes depending on size of chunks).
Work in batches in food processor or blender until almost smooth.

It makes a really big batch of soup. My DH and I both had a huge bowl for dinner and then I divided what was left into four containers for taking to work.

I like it with garlic bread or crackers.

Thanks for the butternut squash soup recipe! I have two butternut squashes sitting at home and as much as I like them, I don't always want to wait 1.5 hours for it to cook in the oven, lol!

I have a lot of recipes I loooove!

Here is one of them...sounds weird but it's one of my favorites:

Asian Turkey Meatloaf

1 lb 93% lean ground turkey
1/4 cup Trader Joes General Tsao sauce, or your favorite teriyaki sauce (keep 1 tbs of this separate from the rest of the 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 beaten egg
2 tsp raw ginger, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup green onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced

Mix all ingredients together, except the reserved tablespoon of sauce. Cover pan (preferably a loaf pan) with foil, or use non-stick spray such as Pam. Put mixture into pan- if your pan is not a loaf pan, simply shape the mixture into a loaf shape (it sticks together well enough for this to be done easily).

Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes. Then top with reserved sauce and bake another 10 minutes.

1/4 of recipe is:
* Cals- 277
* Fat- 10g
* Carbs- 21g
* Protein- 25g
* Fiber- 1g
* Sodium- 514mg

Last night wanted to do something more and different with my favorite food ..... BROCCOLI! Can't help myself, just love the stuff. Found on a site called Mr. Breakfast.com a low fat broccoli frittata that was amazing. I added a little bit of mozz. cheese on top just for an extra bump of protein.

Low Fat Broccoli Frittata
1 cup fat free cottage cheese
2 whole eggs
4 egg whites
5 ounces frozen chopped broccoli - thawed ( I used fresh and about 2 cups, I DID SAY I LIKE THE STUFF!)
1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes (I used Wild Tree Steak Rub seasoning)
salt and pepper - to taste
Preheat the oven 375 degrees.

Prepare a 9-inch round baking pan by spraying the inside generously with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the cottage cheese, eggs and egg whites. Mix until foamy.

Add the broccoli and mix well. Stir in the spices.

Pour mixture into prepared baking pan.

Cook for about 30 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.


Low fat and packed with protein. Each serving has 188 calories, 14 grams protein and 2 grams total fat. For a variation, try replacing the broccoli with chopped spinach.

It ROCKED!!

This looks great! Yum, thanks! (Referring to the Turkey loaf recipe ^^^^^)

My kids love chicken nuggets but I refuse to give them frozen food unless I absolutely have to and I try to keep it to a couple times a month. So I have discovered Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook has the best kid friendly recipes that even I will eat.
Her chicken nuggets
1 C hole wheat bread crumbs
1/2 c flaxseed meal (my kids like flaxseed so I will use more and use less bread crumbs)
1Tbs parmesan
1/2tsp paprika
1/2tsp garlic powder
1/2tsp onion powder I will switch up the spices
Mix above in bowl for coating chicken

1c broccoli or spinach or sweet potato or beet puree. I even used carrot. My kids love the spinach and broccoli ones though.
(I actually cut the puree down to 1/2c and have plenty to coat all the 1lb chicken and more. Not sure what a coating looks like to her)
1 egg
blend above to coat chicken

1lb chicken cut into chunks
1/2tsp salt. Sprinkle on chicken

cooking spray. coat pan. when hot, add oil
olive oil

Dip chicken in egg mix, then coat in crumbs. Place in pan careful not over crowd the pan. cook until brown on one side about 3-4 min then flip and cook another 4 min or so.

Even if the kids see the green they don't mind it because they know they cant taste it.

I use the same breading to coat fish sticks, cheese sticks and anything else that calls for a bread coat. Just choose the puree that compliments the best.

@yerblonde... I can bake these-- right?

I have 2 kids, 6 & 3. My 6yr old is picky about the look of his food and inspects it thoroughly before biting no matter how good it is. I will tend to feed him in a well dimmed area for the first 2 bites because otherwise he will not try it at all. I made chicken nuggets the other night with carrots instead of spinach or broccoli like I normally do and he freaked when he saw the orange. And he LOVEs to eat carrots.
My point here is; I add purée's to almost everything I make and he only sometimes notices (the color, not taste). When I have guests that tell me they hate something and will never eat it (carrots, broccoli, peppers etc.) they never taste the purees in my food.

Purees are just like making baby food. When I make veggies for a meal, I will make a whole 2 broccoli stalks instead of what I will eat that night and puree the rest and bag in freezer bags in 1/2C servings and freeze. So it does not take too many extra steps for me to do this because time is important. This works with cauliflower, carrots, yams, squash, zucchini, beets, & pumpkin. The only thing I make an effort to make time for is spinach. But spinach only takes 30sec to steam (just until the leaves wilt) so it isn't a big deal.
To keep track of what I have because things get lost in my freezer, I mark how many I bags I get and then slash mark 1 every time I take one out of the freezer.
I make green eggs with spinach.
Pink pancakes with beets
Deviled eggs with carrots or cauliflower
White eggs with cauliflower
Mashed potatoes with parsnips or cauliflower
Any soup you make will be enhanced in flavor with a puree and your picky eater's can't pick out the carrots, squash, broccoli, tomatoes etc.
Add carrots, beans, peppers, squash, yam, mushrooms, zucchini, almost anything, to your beef recipes like hamburgers, sloppy joes, meatloaf, tacos, chilis, etc. (1 or 2 purees in 1 recipe)
Even my brownies have spinach and carrots in them.
Cauliflower is great in a glaze or icing.

No one ever believes when I give recipes with ingredients they "don't like" yet they just ate and loved.
Thank you Jessica Seinfeld!!

If you want more recipes, I am happy to share. I can put them here if y'all don't mind or you can email me at yerblonde@aol.com if that is better. :happy:

For when I need something sweet!
These bean blondies are much more moist and fudge-like than regular blondies. Their super-soft texture is insane!

Snickerdoodle Genius Blondies
◾1 1/2 cups chickpeas (1 can, drained and rinsed) (250g)
◾3 T nut butter
◾3/4 tsp baking powder
◾1-2 tsp vanilla extract
◾1/8 tsp baking soda
◾heaping 1/8 tsp salt
◾3/4 cup brown sugar
◾1 T unsweetened applesauce
◾1/4 cup ground flax (20g)
◾2 and 1/4 tsp cinnamon
◾optional ingredients: a pinch cream of tartar, raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend all ingredients until very smooth, and scoop into a greased (or tinfoil-lined) 8×8 pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes. You want the blondies to look a little undercooked when you take them out, because they’ll firm up as they cool, and you don’t want them to get hard. (Note: you can probably sub any white bean for the chickpeas)

(based on 15 squares)
◾Calories: 95
◾Fat: 2.5 g
◾Carbs: 15 g
◾Fiber: 3 g
◾Protein: 2.5 g

Thanks to the flax, these blondies also offer omega-threes.

These always disappear when I take them to play dates!