Good use of an illusion...

Oops, I did it again.  I played with their hearts...or rather their palates.  On this rainy summer Saturday, I thought some "apple"-berry crisp would be an appropriate after-dinner dessert.  Looking at the image pictured below, one might say they were looking at a bowl of cut apples and raspberries.  Go ahead, really look at it.  I'll wait....  

Fortunately, I did just buy some Granny Smith apples.  But, my garden is producing an abundance of zucchini...and, with a recipe for Zucchini "Apple" Crisp, I couldn't resist the opportunity to be a master of illusion. Now, here is how I play the game. Feed first, tell later...although, my husband had full disclosure before trying the dessert, my children did not.  

I mean, why mention the "Z" word if it isn't necessary?  With that, I served up the "apple"-berry crisp just as I normally would; with ice cream and a little caramel sauce.

The verdict?  They liked it.   However, both of my boys said that they could tell there was something different about the "apples".  My oldest thought I used peaches.  My youngest actually wasn't a fan of the raspberries.  As a rule, he normally finds raspberries too "tart" in baked goods.  In any case, they were good sports...

I even have permission to make it again.

Surrender to supper?

(Almost) Every night I make dinner and sometimes, sometimes I get sick of the old stand-bys. So, when I found a new Rachel Ray magazine hiding in the darkness of the mailbox, I got excited. Eagerly, I scanned the pages for a recipe; a recipe that was just different enough to be "fancy", yet comforting enough to please even the pickiest of 5 and 8 year-old palates.

There they were...on page 92, a series of dishes that "stack" favorite dinnertime duos, thus bringing them to a "whole new level". Meat and Potato Loaf, a satisfying supper of meatloaf topped with scalloped potatos, seemed like the one to try first. My boys like meatloaf, and at least one of them likes potatos. Besides, what is that old adage about introducing a food to babies? You have to introduce them to a food at least 14 times before you surrender to their picky palate? Now, I don't have babies, but there must be some equivalent mantra for school-age children.


So, here we have it, my stacked meat and potato loaf on a bed of spinach pesto. The meatloaf has finely chopped bits of carrot and zucchini; Rachel's version has carrots and beets, but I thought zucchini would be slightly more discreet than beets. In the end, as it turns out, this was not the hit I'd hoped it would be.

Naturally, I didn't expect a bed of green pesto to hit it off with the younger set, so I left it off their plates. Questions regarding the orange flecks in the meatloaf, gave way to, "Do I have to eat the potatos?" and finally, "Could I be done?" with half their serving still remaining.

After spending a couple of hours on a Saturday preparing a meal that is at best, tolerated is disappointing, but I will not throw in the kitchen towel. The way I figure it, I've got another 13 more times to try; maybe not this recipe, but another that is equally adventurous.