Healthy and Easy Mac and Cheese

There is no doubt what my daughter's favorite food is; she likes mac and cheese better than anything else she's tried.  So, rather than fight it, I'm trying to work it.  Tonight, I made her favorite with a twist.  It ended up looking very green, but she scarfed it down like she hadn't eaten in a week.

Ingredients:

Annie's Organic Deluxe Mac and Cheese made with whole wheat shells

Flax seed or Omega 3 oil

Nutritional yeast

A few leaves of kale, stemmed and chopped up in the food processor

First, prepare the mac and cheese as directed.  Then, drizzle flax seed oil on top, along with some nutritional yeast.  To top it all off, put 2 or 3 tablespoons of chopped up kale (chopped in the food processor) on the top.  (This amount was for Isla's tiny-sized serving.  Adjust the amount of kale to taste, and stir the rest of the kale in with the leftover pasta to eat yourself.)  

Banana-Kale Muffins

Inspired by my visit to the Little Woods Pre-School Food Fair, and the muffins we tried there, I made up a new recipe this evening to sneak some healthy into yummy foods for my husband and daughter.  Actually, "sneak" isn't a good word, because I'm trying to encourage Isla to like foods like kale by preparing them in a way that's kid-friendly.  These muffins taste like dessert, but are a much healthier option:

ingredients:

one bunch organic kale

three or four small organic carrots

three very ripe organic bananas

one cup organic whole wheat flour

one tablespoon vanilla

1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 tablespoon nutmeg

big dollop of organic plain yogurt

one free-range organic egg

sesame seeds (1/4 cup or so)

one tablespoon baking soda

one tablespoon baking powder

one dollop organic honey

1/4 cup or so organic canola oil

pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

in a food processor, chop up the bunch of kale (after removing stems), the carrots, and the banana.  

put all three in a large bowl

dump in the other ingredients

mix by hand until blended

drop in greased cupcake pans (I use the mini kind)

bake until done - approx 10-14 minutes

enjoy!