bring on the birthdays...

Happy 30th birthday to me, yikes! Cody and I celebrated Friday night by going out, it was fun. My Mom and Dad came up to watch the kids which we so very much appreciated. I don't feel too much older. I guess you quit telling people your age when you start to feel older, so I'm not there yet! My Mom made a delicious oatmeal cake which was quite hot by the time we got all the candles going. I burned Cody's hand in the process...sorry honey. I have to be honest in saying that I would love to have a birthday in say February or July, but December is a festive month. We also have Lauren and Chloe's birthday on the 16th, my brother Landon on the 17th, so it's a fun time, a bit hard on the checkbook, but fun!
One of my sweet friends gave me this cookbook for my birthday. I read about it in the Reader's Digest actually and was planning on checking it out. The whole idea of sneaking healthy foods into dishes isn't new by any means (right Mom? :) But I guess being married to Jerry Seinfeld gives this chick a little more time and money to put it all together in a fancy schmancy book. It is a great idea really. Tonight I made Blueberry Oatmeal Bars-with one entire cup of pureed spinach. Even my husband's discerning taste buds approved. Success! can't wait to try some other dishes. I made all of Noah's baby food by pureeing veggies and fruits, so this shouldn't be too much of a stretch. Give them a try-I was pleasantly surprised!

Blueberry Oatmeal Bars
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 1/4 cups flour (I used whole wheat pastry)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup butter
1 cup blueberry preserves
1/2 cup spinach puree

Heat oven to 375, spray 8 by 8 in pan with cooking spray. Combine all dry ingredients with vanilla then cut in butter to resemble coarse crumbs. Press half of mixture in pan and bake until lightly brown around edges-10-12 minutes. Mix blueberry preserves with spinach. Spread over baked oat layer and top with remaining oat mixture. Bake until browned 15-20 minutes. Cool completely before serving.
(I doubled the recipe, grinding up half the oats and just making a blueberry sauce on the stove rather than using jam. It turned out pretty tasty.)