Deceptively Delicious | Recipe Reviews 2 & 3

Before I continue with the recipe reviews, I thought it might be helpful for you to see the Chief Taste Tester, and Number 1 Critic here at Chic Crafty Chick. Allow me to introduce, Sawyer. A recently liberated one year old, Sawyer has an attitude a mile long when it comes to what he is now eating. He is a good eater, always has been, he has now just developed an opinion on what he is eating. He no longer dines on baby food, he is a real meat and potatoes man (well, what he can chew with all 6 teeth he has). Even though his recent development of an opinion is a challenge, I take it in stride. For those of you who don't know about Sawyer, he is my little miracle. In July of 2006, he was born 3 months premature at 25 weeks and weighed 1 pound 12 ounces. I have been so blessed that he has always been a good eater since many premature babies don't eat well. So, when he fusses that I'm not getting his food fast enough, I just count it as a blessing seeing how small he was when he was first born.

I think it is important to build an early foundation of good eating habits for Sawyer. So, trying out the recipes in this cookbook as been great to explore new and unique ways for me to make sure he and my husband and I are getting our veggies in every day.

Chief Taste Tester & Number 1 Critic

Our Scientific Scaling System

Another addition I thought would be helpful to the reviews, is a scaling system. And, since our Chief Taste Tester's favorite thing is Cheerios, we will be using a 5 Cheerio scale. 5 Cheerios means that it is a fabulous recipe, easy to make, we loved the flavor and we would highly recommend. 4 Cheerios is that it tasted great, was easy to make, tasted fine. 3 Cheerios is middle of the road, not quite sure what to make of it. May need to make it again, the jury is still out. 2 Cheerios is it was edible. 1 Cheerio, well that means that a picky one year old wasn't pleased and pushed it away. And our Boston Terrier, Zoe, might eat it. Might. She can be a little princess.

Recipe Review #2 Meatloaf
Ok, I have to admit that I very, very loosely followed this recipe. Instead of using celery, I used a green pepper. I didn't cook the onion and other ingredients in a skillet. I'm more of a mix and dump meatloaf maker. I also omitted the milk because I thought it would be too much liquid and I added one egg to my recipe. I find it helps with helping the meatloaf bind together. I also didn't have Italian bread crums and just used plain. I like the idea of pureed carrots in this so I did do that. You really can't taste them at all. For those of you who have never used ground turkey, this is the best way to try it for the first time. To me, meatloaf is more of a tomato taste anyway. So if you are leary of whether you'll like ground turkey, the other ingredients are more the star of the show. Give it a try.

Our chief taste tester loved this recipe. What I like about this recipe is that I am able to get carrots, green pepper, and onion into him in one sitting. I think you could probably sneek in some other kind of veggie in this too. I think I'll have to play with this recipe to see what else I could add to it.

So, we recommend this recipe and we give it 4 out of 5 Cheerios.
Recipe Review #2 - Pancakes (with sweet potato)
When I cooked the sweet potatoes for this, I opted to roast them in the oven. One day earlier this week, I washed them and had them in aluminum foil and set them on top of my oven before I went to bed. When I got up the next morning, I put the oven on and stuck them in the oven for 40-50 minutes at 400 degrees. Then I left them out to cool and I just scooped out the centers and put that in my food processor.

A side note: In the cookbook Jessica recommends taking one day to get all your purees ready. I think I would do that too, this week I've fighting this sinus infection so it has been touch and go. I've had to rest up and do things when I've felt like it. Also, if you do that you can have some in the fridge ready to go, or freeze them. I have a Food Saver I got last Christmas and it is awesome for freezing stuff. I've done a few baggies of puree in my Food Saver. It really does cut down on freezer burn. (Or as I told my sister the other day through my sinus fog, frost bite for your food). You could also do purees in a blender if you don't have a food processor.

Ok, back to the review. To make this recipe is so easy. You use store bought pancake mix. I use Wal Mart brand, you only have to add water to it. Easy, easy. So, you just add your sweet potatoe puree to the mix and you can use either cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice. I used cinnamon, but would like to try it again with the pumpkin pie spice.

One tip I would recommend is slowly heat your pan. I think I heated mine too quickly and the first two didn't want to cook in the middle. I guess with the cinnamon, they brown quickly on the outside, so it is a tad harder to tell how they are cooking.

Once I got mine cooked, it was time for the taste test. I first gave our Chief Taste Tester a bite without any syrup and he gobbled it up. Then I did give him a little syrup. As you can see below, we got a clean plate result from the kitchen lab. I also ate this and really enjoyed these pancakes. I will definitley make them again.

We really liked this recipe a lot. It is a simple way to add some veggies in and it also has great taste. So, we give it 5 Cheerios.

Be sure to check back next week. I hope to post another review soon. Until then, start to eat great in 08'.