Our Favorite Filler

One of my favorite things about James is that he gets me to eat my vegetables. When I was growing up, meals consisted of a main dish (primarily meat and grain/pasta) with vegetables or fruit on the side. When I left home, it was all too easy to make similar meals but leave out the vegetable side dish. James, on the other hand, makes vegetables a part of the meal. Frequently vegetables are the main attraction, such as in his stir fries and soups. Other times he incorporates vegetables as a nutritious filler. 

To my surprise, carrot is the vegetable we use most frequently. I don't like raw carrot at all, and I want my cooked carrot to be completely soft. That means cooking it a long time, or so I thought. James introduced me to the idea of using grated carrot. Grated carrot doesn't take nearly as long to cook as carrot slices do. Now I happily eat carrot in nearly every meal.

I think James eats them to keep his hair red.

Grated carrot makes a nutritious, unobtrusive filler. Its applications are diverse: omelettes, spaghetti, lasagna, pizza, pot-stickers, tacos... we've even stirred them into refried beans! I find that the carrots hide best in tomato sauce, but if you don't mind a hint of carrot flavor they can go in just about anything. They will blend in better if you season them to match the meal your putting them in (chili powder, Italian seasoning, soy sauce, etc). 

If you use a standard sized grater, I recommend softening the carrots by cooking them a few minutes in a skillet until they become translucent. If you use a fine grater, the carrots will be thin enough that they won't be crunchy at all, so you can add them to your dish raw. Give it a try! Eating your vegetables may be easier than you thought.

Easy Applesauce

In our quest for snack materials to keep James fed between meals, apples are a great pick. You can eat them as they are, spread peanut butter on them, put them in pancakes or muffins, or make apple chips! James especially likes applesauce, and since apples are in season now, we picked a few pounds for the purpose.

We adapted this recipe for making applesauce in the crockpot. It's super easy and low maintenance. I recommend doubling the recipe, since the apples cook down to less than half the original volume. That does mean more time spent cutting up the apples, but the cooking time changes very little. 

We've given the amount of sugar and the cooking time as a range. We used Mantet apples, which are sweet and soft. You may want to add more sugar if you use a tart variety, or if you simply prefer a sweeter applesauce. A crisp variety may need a longer cooking time. 

We didn't peel our apples, since the skin adds fiber. If you use red apples, the skins will dye your applesauce to a rosy color. If you want light-colored applesauce, peel your apples or stick to green/golden varieties. 

Ingredients

6 cups finely chopped apples
¼ cup water
¼ to ½ cup sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon

Place water, apples, and ¼ cup sugar in a slow cooker. Stir together. Cook until apples are soft, about 2-3 hours on high (or 4-6 hours on low). If cooking on high, stir once each hour. When apples are soft, beat with a whisk to desired consistency (the volume will decrease considerably as you do this). Add the cinnamon. Taste the applesauce and add more sugar if desired. If you add more sugar, cook for another 30 minutes on low to be sure it dissolves in. Makes about 2 ½ cups of applesauce.

Optional: add 1 Tbsp lemon juice to prevent oxidation (this will help keep the applesauce from turning brown).