Apricot-Glazed Carrots

16-ounce package baby carrots
1/3 cup apricot preserves
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon grated orange rind (optional)
2 tablespoons orange juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1. Steam carrots for 15 minutes or until tender; drain.
2. Combine preserves and butter in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until preserves and butter melt.
3. Stir in orange rind, orange juice, salt, and nutmeg. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Add carrots and toss to coat.

Makes five 1/2-cup servings.

This is a Weight Watcher recipe. It's very easy to make, and the carrots are so sweet that Allyson (2 years old) calls them candy carrots. I make these with freshly grated nutmeg using my Microplane rasp grater. Delicious!

Breakfast Ice Cream

This is a great way to get your kids to eat bananas and plain yogurt, and a relatively guilt-free treat for you as well. It has the consistency of soft-serve ice cream, and it tastes great. It's also the perfect way to use up very brown bananas. Be sure to cut them in chunks before freezing.

1 frozen banana, cut in pieces
2 tablespoons plain fat-free yogurt
1 tablespoon honey or sugar
1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of wheat germ (optional)*

*Find wheat germ in jars in the cereal aisle, near the oatmeal.

1. In a small bowl, combine the yogurt, sugar, and wheat germ. Stir until well blended.
2. Put frozen banana in food processor and pour the yogurt mixture over the top.
   
3. Puree on high until the mixture is very smooth. (Hold on tight for the first few seconds; the processor will shake violently.)

Serve drizzled with chocolate syrup, if desired.

Note: Convert to a smoothie by adding 1/2 cup of milk and mixing in the blender instead of the food processor. Don't try making the ice cream in the blender without the extra milk, or you might break your blender.



You can find this recipe and many other kid-friendly recipes in The Sneaky Chef cookbook, by Missy Chase Lapine.

Raspberry "sparklers"

Raspberries
POM (pomegranate) juice
Sparkling White Wine (or Sparkling Cider for a non-alcoholic version)

Add 2 raspberries to a champagne flute. Add 2 Tbsp (more or less to taste) POM juice. Fill remaining glass with wine or cider.

I've found that a container of raspberries, 1 small bottle of POM juice, and a bottle of wine will make at least 8 glasses.