Zucchini Fries

4ft hates zucchini (what's wrong with that kid, I mean really? zucchini is delicious) and he refuses to eat it because, "It's the grossest stuff on earth, Mom." Sometimes I wonder how that kid came out of me. Anyways...

Every once in awhile I like to screw with my kid (because I'm an awesome mom) and take something he swears he hates and disguise it. Then I masterfully trick him to eat it. Me: Try this. Him: Okay. Me: Well? Him: It's delicious. See how masterfully done that was?

So, I did that with zucchini. I cut them the size of McDonalds-sized fries (because is there really a more perfect french fry anywhere?) and baked them up til they were golden brown. The kid loves ketchup, so I gave him ketchup for dipping (ranch is also seriously nom-a-licious to dip in as well) and gave him a stack of "fries". He ate one, made yummy face -- shocked big eyes and big smile (why he always does the surprise face, I don't know. I rarely ever feed him something he doesn't like) and then with piggy snorts inhaled the rest of his, Grumpers' (who couldn't be tricked -- the only fries to eat are McDonalds and how dare I suggest otherwise), and Bear's because she couldn't be bothered to come to the table. Then he tried to steal MINE!

I cackled evilly and told him he just horked down zucchini. Again with the surprised look and then he asked me if I was magic because only someone with powerful magic could make zucchini taste good. I told him I was and he better watch out. "For what? You going to turn me into delicious food?" I don't know where he got his smart mouth *cough*his dad*cough* (and for those of you who immediately thought me, watch out! I've got powerful magic!)

Caramel Apple Crisp

I was perusing Facebook the other day and a friend of mine posted a picture of some individual apple pies that she'd baked -- they looked seriously delicious. Added to that, I got a produce box with a bunch of apples in it so I decided to try my hand at coming up with an apple crisp recipe. I like apple crisp better than pie. Several tries later: this stuff turned out awesome. It was great by itself but would seriously be good topped with protein ice cream or as the topping of a protein waffle.

To healthy it up a little, I used unsweetened applesauce with some butter extract instead of butter. It gave the caramel the buttery flavor I was looking for as well as giving the sauce a thicker consistency without having to use flour. I also used Kashi Protein Go Lean Crisp cereal as the topping to add some protein into the dish without messing up the consistency of the apple deliciousness underneath. Any granola or cereal topping of your choice would work but the nutritional info listed is for the one I used.