Purees and Procreastination

In my last post, I wrote out my "To Do" list for the week. Here it is Wednesday and I haven't done squat from my list.  On Monday I had zero energy.  I watched Sabrina with Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, did a little cleaning of the master bedroom and that. was. it.  Seriously, I could not figure out why I was so useless.  The next morning I learned the ugly truth.  The Hubs had made decaf.  I apparently cannot function without fully caffeinated coffee.

 Yesterday I took Babycakes swimming at my aunt and uncle's house.  I thought I could get a few things done during her nap but she only slept for another hour. When she woke up she was SUPER cuddly, which was nice, but I knew she wasn't feeling well.  Sure enough she was running a low grade fever.  She was so clingy that I wasn't able to get anything done.  I even had to put her on my back so I could make dinner.

She didn't sleep well last night which means no one slept well.  So I made an appointment when we rolled out of bed this morning with her pediatrician.  Diagnosis: ear infection and eye infection.  So another round of antibiotics and eye drops.  Have you even given eye drops to a 2 year old?  I don't recommend it.

Anyway, back to the point of my post.  While Monday was definitely a day of procrastination, the past two days have been Mommy duty.  I also mentioned last week that I made some purees that I would talk about in a later post.  So here is that post.

A couple of years ago I picked up a copy of Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious  cookbook on the bargain table.

I decided to start using her recipes/ideas to include more veggies in our diets.  The Hubs is a big fan of sloppy joes so I thought I would try her version to see if it would pass muster.  Since her recipe called for some things 1.) I didn't have on hand and 2.) I knew someone didn't like, the recipe below is my version of her recipe.  Capiche?

Okay, I started by browning a pound of ground beef in the skillet.

 To that I added 1/2 cup of sweet potato puree, 1/2 cup of butternut squash puree, 1/2 cup of vegetable broth, 1/4 cup of tomato paste, 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper.  Cook on low heat for about 15-20 minutes.  (HINT:  The tomato paste in those little cans is about 1/2 a cup.  Rather than throw away the other half, I put it in a freezer bag and popped it into the freezer with my other food purees.)

I used vegetable broth because it's what I had on hand and I was trying to use up what was in the fridge.

We were out of hamburger and hotdog buns so I served them on toasted white bread with a side of sweet potato fries.  The Hubs and I also had side salads and Babycakes had some cucumbers from the garden.

These passed muster with the food critics in the house so it will be a recipe I use again.  I have additional purees in the freezer so I am ready for another evening of sneaking some veggies into a main course.  :-)