Baked Rice (or Couscous) Pudding

Bake at 350° for 50 mins to 1 hour  * Serves 6
- Terrific breakfast or snack. Mild on sweetness and can be easily  modified with additional ingredients to your liking.

• 2 c. cooked rice or couscous (leftovers are perfect)
• 1/3 c. sugar (or if you are nutty like me and want less refined sugar see below*) 
• 3 c. milk
• pinch of salt
• 5 eggs (beaten)
• 1 Tblsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. lemon zest (optional)
• 1/4 raisins (optional)

Mix all ingredients together (be sure to beat the eggs FIRST or there will be chunks of egg in the pudding). Pour into a 9×13 inch pan or separate ramekins and bake until top is golden brown.

Serve hot or cold with cinnamon and milk.

* cook dates in boiling water for 10 minutes; remove pits and place in blender with enough juice or water to puree into a thick, smooth consistency. Replace sugar with date mixture.

Couscous Cranberry Bake

• 1 cup whole milk
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 dried couscous
• ~2 tbsp whole greek yogurt
• ~1 tbsp honey or jam
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1-2 tsp brown sugar
• Cranberries
• Walnut pieces (optional)

Boil milk with salt, stir in couscous, cover and remove from heat. (let stand for 5-10 mins until all liquid is absorbed and couscous is fully cooked. Place cooked couscous in small broil proof dish.

Mix yogurt with honey or jam and layer on top of couscous.

Finally mix softened butter with brown sugar. Layer on top of the above adding desired amounts cranberries or walnuts (Be creative! if you don't have these berries or nuts on hand, try something else!).

Place in over under broiler for ~8-10 minutes (until browned on top). If serving immediately, place in different dish so little hands don't get burned.

Cornmeal Muffins (or bread) with Sausage

I have to give credit to Jett's after school daycare teacher Cory. Basically, you make Cornbread (or Cornbread Muffins) and add hot dogs or sausage to the batter. Be aware of sodium as you are comparing dogs. I have thought I was doing well choosing non-Nitrate dogs. Apparently, if I am to believe this article...not so much. So keep this in mind if it's a priority to you. Maybe its time to veggie-I-fie your muffins: http://www.seriouseats.com/2008/01/cooking-with-kids-nitratefree-hot-dogs.html

Preheat Oven to 400 °

• 1 c yellow or blue corn meal
• 1 cup whole wheat flour (its okay to 1/2 this with almond meal or flour or other flour-like nutrients)
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 c milk
• 1/3 veg. oil (or reduce by up to half w/greek yogurt)
• 1 lrg egg lightly beaten
• Chopped franks

Grease 8in. pan or prepare muffin tin w/papers.  Mix dry ingredients. In separate bowl combine wet ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry until just blended. Fold in franks. For bread, bake for 20-25 mins., until inserted wooden pick is clean. For muffins (makes 10-12), bake for 15 mins or until inserted wooden pick is clean.


Serve warm plain or with a bit of honey.

Bread Pudding (twist on date & nut bread)

Make Date & Nut Recipe, add mashed banana; plenty so it's mushy. Place in baking dish & bake as recipe suggests. When ready to serve, make a BIG deal about special Bread Pudding you made that needs to be eaten with a spoon..

Date and Nut Bread

This is a terrific, very delicious, recipe that you can change the fruit up a bit (based on what you have in your fruit bowl) or make as muffins. I encourage you to experiment with the fruits and/or different types of flour. The ingredients below are what I used in a recent successful "experiment". VERY moist because of the yogurt. I found this recipe on Cooking Light (Original Cooking Light Recipe) and converted it to Not-So-Cooking-Light by using Whole Greek Yogurt. However, if you want to lighten just switch back to Non or Low-Fat Yogurt.

Yield: 2 loaves

Ingredients
Streusel:

• 2 1/2  tablespoons  brown sugar
• 2  tablespoons  whole-wheat flour
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  coarsely chopped almonds or walnuts
• 1  tablespoon  chilled butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground cinnamon

Bread:

• 1  cup dried figs or dates
• 1/2  cup  boiling water
• Cooking spray
• 1  tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 2  large egg whites
• 1  large egg
• 1  cup applesauce
• 1/3 cup whole Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup almond meal (you can replace with the addition of another 1/2 cup flour, but this add add'l nutrients/calories/protein)*
• 1/3 cup chopped almonds or walnuts, toasted**
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

* Be creative with this, you can stick to regular flour or use other flour-like things you have in the pantry. replace with a bit of wheat germ and/or ground flax seed as well.
** Toasting is not essential, just adds add'l flavor. To toast, just put in a dry skillet on med-high heat and stir until a bit aromatic. Being careful not to burn.

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. To prepare streusel, combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl, stirring with a fork until crumbly; set aside.
3. To prepare bread, combine figs (or dates) and 1/2 cup boiling water in a small bowl; let stand 30 minutes. Coat 2 (8-inch) loaf pans with cooking spray; dust with 1 tablespoon flour. (replace with muffin cups if you prefer)
4. Place egg whites and egg in a medium bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add applesauce, yogurt, oil, and almond or vanilla extract; stir well. Add sugar; stir well.
5. Combine flours and remaining ingredients in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Drain figs/dates, and coarsely chop. Add figs/dates and applesauce mixture to flour mixture, stirring until just combined*. Divide batter between prepared pans. Sprinkle streusel over batter. Bake at 350° for 55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 15 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.

*I've added apples, cherries, etc to the  mix. I've even completely omitted the dates/figs when I didn't have them handy. This recipe is a good base for many different kinds of fruits/nuts. 

Cranberry-Orange Soup

This is an easy & fun twist on soup. "Jett, come look what mommy made. Fruit soup!"

Ingredients

• Fresh whole cranberries
• Chopped orange peel (next time you peel an orange, tangerine, etc. keep the peel. You may find a use for it!)
• Sugar/Honey
• Greek yogurt (whole)

Place cranberries & orange peel in a pot just covered with water. Bring to a boil. Let boil for 10 minutes. Pour entire pot into blender and puree until smooth. Place back in pot and add honey and/or sugar (your preference) to taste; dissolve. You don't want it too sugary, but enough that the little nipper will eat it. That's it - you are done.

Place in soup bowl, stir in a a spoonful Greek yogurt, present as 'fruit soup'. Dream up other ways to use the left overs (smoothies, topping for yogurt, pancakes, etc.).

Why am I blogging about ADHD & Eating?

My kindergarten son was placed on medication for ADHD at the end of 2010. Within a few weeks, no matter how hard I tried to feed him, the loss of appetite (during ~9am - 3pm) has caused him to continue to lose weight. I've had to change my entire approach to grocery shopping, cooking & preparing foods. While still trying to keep foods incredibly healthy for him, I am learning to change my approach to:

• Finding ways to cook delicious food (that a 5 year old will eat) that

1. Are calorie & nutrient dense
2. Full of good fats
3. Taste fantastic
4. Will fatten him up!

This blog is both an attempt to document foods I've created that meet all 4 criteria above (so I can remember what I've done!) as well as to share with others that may for various reasons need to get their kids to eat. Oh, and to have fun while doing it! And, yes, I really enjoy this!