Experimenting - Making a Menu, Part 4

Life seems to be spinning out of control. (No pun intended as there were numerous tornados in our area today and I spent the better part of the afternoon in the bathroom with my three children. Now THERE's a fun way to spend the day!) At any rate, one of the things that may be contributing to this craziness is that I have a "bee in my bonnet" to find some new recipes for our upcoming menu.

I checked out another cookbook at the library last Saturday and it has definitely sparked my creative cooking interest. The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine has basically the same goal as Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld - hide vegetables and other good stuff in foods that kids will eat. I like the layout and design of The Sneaky Chef and am excited to try some of the recipes. (I made our icing for Apple Muffins pink this morning by using Strawberry juice. It was quite yummy! of course, isn't most icing?!)

At a glance, many of The Sneaky Chef recipes look a little easier to adapt to an allergen-free diet than the ones in Deceptively Delicious. (By the way, I tried one of the DD recipes and it was a no-go (Rice Balls). It could have been because I substituted soy cream cheese for the cheddar cheese or flax seed + water for the egg. At any rate, it was a mushy mess.)

Maybe I'll get to experiment with more recipes throughout this week and hone in on some winners for my Spring/Summer menu. I usually go through this phase of trying new recipes when I set out to make a new menu. I like variety and I go through phases where I'd rather not eat, say, Chicken Spaghetti, for a few months. This adds a bit of time to the menu-making, but it is well worth the effort. If I find a recipe that I'd like to add to the menu, I always try it first. There's no sense in adding it to a menu I'll use for 6 months, if it's hard to make or my family doesn't like it.

Just wondering... Do you have some warmer-weather recipes that are cheap, yummy and easy to make? Allergen-free, of course! Please share!

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happy chef image from art.com