EAT YOUR HEART OUT #1: Tom Foodery.

This story and recipe is from one of our favorites, Jenn at @omfgsogood – ENJOY!

A little Tom Foodery never hurt anyone.

It’s no secret.  I love food.  And I can only hope that one day both of my boys will too.  But until that day, I have been blessed with at least one picky-ass eater.

Sigh.

Being the mom of a 3 year-old whose favorite food went from boob milk directly to Cheetos Twists, I hear all too often things like ‘this broccoli tastes likes farts’ and ‘can I just have a hot dog instead?’.  Unfortunately he’s also convinced that he can ‘hold his poop in forever’, so the need for a few daily ounces of roughage is dire.

Also, being the mom of a chunky 9 month-old who will eat pretty much anything I put on his tray (see photographic evidence below), I have an abundance of frozen pureed fruits and veggies in the freezer.

Thankfully I have my genius moments and have figured out a way to sneak good stuff into the ‘good stuff’.  Welcome to what I’ve dubbed the art of Tom Foodery.

Apple Muffins (with butternut squash).

See how I snuck that last bit in?

I told you, I have my moments.  Not only did Finley eat these, HE DEVOURED THEM.  Then he sat on the toilet for an hour watching episodes of Curious George on Netflix for iPad.  Not directly because of the muffins, but because it turns out ‘forever’ isn’t as long as he originally thought.

Anyway, try these.  You can thank me later.

Apple Muffins (with butternut squash)

TOPPING:

• ⅔ cup old-fashioned oats
• ¼ cup light brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter (melted)

MUFFINS:

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• ½ cup vanilla whole milk yogurt (I use Stonyfield Organic French Vanilla)
• ½ cup butternut squash puree
• ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• ¼ vegetable oil
• 1 large egg

Preheat the oven to 400˚.  Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper cups.

Topping:  Stir the oats, brown sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl, then mix in the butter with a fork to form crumbles.

Batter:  Combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a ziploc bag and shake to mix.  (You can do this in a bowl, but I like to let Finley shake it up.  It gives him a sense of purpose and if he ‘helps’ he’s more likely to eat whatever we’re making.)

In a separate bowl, mix the applesauce with the yogurt, squash puree, brown sugar, oil and egg with a wooden spoon.  Add the flour mixture slowly, stirring until just moistened.  The batter should still have some lumps.

Divide the batter evenly amongst the 12 muffin cups and sprinkle with the topping.

Bake (18-20 minutes) or until the topping is slightly brown and a toothpick comes out clean when stuck through the center of the muffins.  Drop them out of the pan onto a wire rack and serve either warm or cool.

These muffins are super moist with a sweet, buttery, crunchy topping.  Trust me, no picky-ass eater/poop-holder-inner can resist.

Jenn is a full-time/flex-time advertising industry ninja/full-time food lover in Scottsdale, AZ.  When she’s not busy feeding faces, wiping butts or searching for her sanity, you can find her posting drool-inducing photos to her culinary adventure blog, OMFG So Good or promoting her husband’s graphic design and fine art business, Trapdoor Studio.  You can also find her on Twitter (@OMFGSoGood) and on Facebook.