I ♥ Deceptively Delicious!

One of my goals this summer was to cook more. I am proud to say I have been pretty successful...in cooking, maybe not in all of my recipes ;)

I also discovered a new addiction: sneaking veggies into our foods. We 've eaten pureed cauliflower in quesadillas and mashed potatoes, pureed carrot in tacos, puree broccoli in chicken nuggets and chicken croissants, and pureed butternut squash in macaroni and cheese. Not all of these are from the cookbook, but once you get the idea, it's pretty easy to try new things.

My most recent foray into Deceptively Delicious cooking was to make the couscous from her book. It was so good that I thought I'd share the recipe and my experience. Plus I don't get to blog about baby food anymore, so this is what I'll discuss instead.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup reduced-fat low-sodium chicken broth (the actual recipe says 1/2 cup but it was a little dry so I would increase it)
• 1 cup regular or whole-wheat couscous
• 1/2 cup yellow squash puree (I'll tell you how to make this below)
• 1/4 cup carrot puree (I already had this in the freezer from a previous recipe...but it's so easy to make, just cut up some carrots, steam until mushy, and puree)
• 2 tablespoons trans-fat-free soft tub margarine spread
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan
• 1 clove garlic, minced (optional) (I just used some garlic powder I had)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

First I started with some fresh yellow squash.

I then chopped the ends off and cut into 1 inch long pieces.

I then steamed for 7 minutes.

I pureed it until smooth.

I used 1/2 cup for the recipe and had some left over. I put the rest into little containers that I have that each hold about 1/2 cup and put those into the freezer for future use.

Next I brought the broth to a boil then turned off the heat and added the couscous and other ingredients.

I served the couscous with chicken and salad.

I'd love to hear from any of you who have tried any of the Deceptively Delicious recipes or have made any of your own that you'd like to share!

And now, Campbell can help me cook! We got her play kitchen this weekend and she already loves it!