Dinner Lately: Veggie Packed Taco Night & Carrot Cake Waffles
I know, waffles are not dinner, but the Eggo frozen waffles were a staple of mine in the morning while dealing with first trimester morning sickness, and thus they became reallll interesting to C.
Lemme say up front I hate carrot cake! Ugh. Carrots do not belong in cake. Spices do not belong in cake. No, no, no, no, no!
However, I live with a toddler (did you see my string of no’s up there?). There are times I need to sneak some veggies into his life, and this works.
I start with this Alton Brown Basic Waffle Recipe, which is a time-consuming luxury leftover from my childfree days. You could start here, or with a pancake or waffle box mix--whatever.
Then I throw a handful of carrots and a peeled/cored cut up apple into my food processor, and add the chopped up mixture to the batter. I sprinkle in a little nutmeg and a bit more cinnamon and cook them up.
You know, for my aforementioned hatred of carrots in baked goods, these waffles are good and more importantly toddler approved. I like to make a big batch and freeze them between sheets of wax paper so I can take one out at a time and toast it up for a fast meal.
The veggie packed tacos are a newer staple around here. The big secrets are: more food processed veggies (bell pepper, onion, sometimes spinach) and slow cooking.
After the ground beef is cooked, I add a ton of finely chopped veggies in the same pan, then a store-bought taco spice packet and almost double the water it calls for. Your meat will look super soupy for a long time, just cook it on high for 15+ min and the excess liquid will be absorbed and the meat will become sloppy joe style soft.
When this goes in front of my toddler I do it with the taco meat and cheese, no tortilla as the mess is just not worth it to me. I’d certainly use the leftover meat and make him a quesadilla though.
It’s by far my fave way to do up taco night.
Lemme say up front I hate carrot cake! Ugh. Carrots do not belong in cake. Spices do not belong in cake. No, no, no, no, no!
However, I live with a toddler (did you see my string of no’s up there?). There are times I need to sneak some veggies into his life, and this works.
I start with this Alton Brown Basic Waffle Recipe, which is a time-consuming luxury leftover from my childfree days. You could start here, or with a pancake or waffle box mix--whatever.
Then I throw a handful of carrots and a peeled/cored cut up apple into my food processor, and add the chopped up mixture to the batter. I sprinkle in a little nutmeg and a bit more cinnamon and cook them up.
You know, for my aforementioned hatred of carrots in baked goods, these waffles are good and more importantly toddler approved. I like to make a big batch and freeze them between sheets of wax paper so I can take one out at a time and toast it up for a fast meal.
The veggie packed tacos are a newer staple around here. The big secrets are: more food processed veggies (bell pepper, onion, sometimes spinach) and slow cooking.
After the ground beef is cooked, I add a ton of finely chopped veggies in the same pan, then a store-bought taco spice packet and almost double the water it calls for. Your meat will look super soupy for a long time, just cook it on high for 15+ min and the excess liquid will be absorbed and the meat will become sloppy joe style soft.
When this goes in front of my toddler I do it with the taco meat and cheese, no tortilla as the mess is just not worth it to me. I’d certainly use the leftover meat and make him a quesadilla though.
It’s by far my fave way to do up taco night.