Homemade Frugal Pancake Syrup

Please note: this is soooo not healthy!  LOL.  But I am going to start a series on Frugal cooking, and thought this was the perfect start!

I wanted to make waffles today - with this!

So I was half done making waffles (will post an awesome frugal waffle recipe later!) when I realized we had no syrup.  I need syrup. 

So.  On to creation!

Here is an awesome syrup recipe!  If I knew that syrup was so easy to make at home, I would NEVER buy it for the $4 a bottle they sell it for - and it tastes soooo yummy!

3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup very hot water
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 capful of maple flavoring
1 capful of pure vanilla extract

Mix it all up in a saucepan and then pop on to boil.  Once boiled, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.  Let cool.  I did this by putting the saucepan in a sink of cold water (about two inches) and it cooled super fast! 

I honestly think this would be amazing with a butter flavoured extract, but I need to hunt where I could find it from.  I think if you were to double this recipe, it would fill a syrup container! 

Enjoy!

Smart Ice Cubes - Frozen Spinach Juice!

Okay, so remember we made spinach juice and froze them into ice cubes?   Just in case you forgot check it out here:

How to make spinach juice:
- 3 cups washed baby spinach fresh
- 1 cup water.

Bring spinach and water to boil, and simmer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes pour through a fine strainer and squish the pulp of the spinach with a spoon or spatula to get all juices released. Freeze your spinach juice in ice cube containers, then once frozen move into a heavy freezer bag.

This is extremely healthy and just a single tablespoon is the same as eating 1/4 cup of raw spinach leaves. This has iron, calcium and digestive enzymes. Super awesome!  Each cube is 2 tablespoons, which is equal to eating 1/2 cup of spinach leaves! 

Anyway!  You can use these ice cubes in your kids soup, this gives a super veggie boost with no change in flavour or color and it cools the soup off perfectly!

OR

You can throw these funky green cubes into apple juice, etc... and the kids will think they are so lucky!  Score one for mama!

Sneaky Strawberries & Cream

This morning's breakfast is quick and simple.  Of course, it is also nutritious!! 

Here is what you need for Strawberries & Cream:

- 3 cups of water
- 1/2 cup cream of wheat
- 2 tbsp pureed zuchinni and cauliflower
- 2 tbsp strawberry jam

Cook your cream of wheat as per the box tells you.  Once ready, add your puree and your jam.  Cook an additional minute, serve!  This makes 4 child servings at about 3/4 cup.

This breakfast if fast, and has a veggie boost of zucchini and cauliflower as well as berries (try using homemade jam with reduced sugar!).  The cream of wheat has 30% of your iron intake as well as 1g of fiber and 3g of protein.  It is low in calories, so having the extra flavour boost of jam won't make the kids go too crazy - lol.

An optional puree you could use is white bean paste.  Either should work just fine!  Or you could make it chocolate flavour with cocoa instead of jam and use the pureed blueberries and spinach!  So many choices!

Enjoy!

Sneaky spicy muffins

These awesome muffins (most reminicent of pumpkin spice muffins) are made with whole wheat flour, carrots, sweet potatoes, cauliflower and zucchini!

2/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup sweet potato and carrot puree
1/4 cup zucchini/cauliflower puree
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt

optional: mini semi sweet chocolate chips (chocolate always entices my kids and me - lol!

In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar, oil, eggs and carrot/sweet potato puree. Combine flour, baking powder, soda, spices and salt. Add to puree mixture; blend until wet. Spoon into greased muffin tins, filling full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  This made 12 large muffins! 

Mashed potatoes (ps. they're sneaky!)

Who doesn't love warm and creamy mashed potatoes?  I know my kids do (well most of them anyway!)  They are the perfect place to hide sneaky veggies too!

The sneaky fix for mashed potatoes is simple!  They can easily be mixed with your pureed cauliflower and zucchini without anyone knowing.  Plus, it doesn't change their texture or color! 

Today I mixed a full 1/2 cup in my batch of mashed potatoes!  So when the kids scoffed at eating their corn but begged for seconds of mashed potatoes I could barely contain my smile ;o)

Sneaky sneaky cupcakes!

Here is a quick fix for your boxed cupcake mix! 

What you need:

ANY flavour cupcake mix (I used butter pecan today)
1/4 cup of pureed vegetables
eggs
water/milk
vegetable oil

Follow your directions on the box.  BUT instead of using the full amount of oil (mine called for 1/2 cup) sub 1/4 cup of the oil for a vegetable puree instead!  Butter pecan went well with the carrot/sweet potato puree.  You could use the blueberry spinach puree in chocolate cake, and white cake could use the cauliflower and zucchini puree.   Just be creative and try to match the vegetable to the cake!

It was delicious just so you know!  AND it adds some healthy properties to the best food ever - lol.  

Spicy Taco Dippers

Okay, so I did detour from my meal plan.  Last night my sweet mom brought us dinner, so we didn't get taco night.  Taco night is my husbands MOST favorite dinner.  So tonight I thought I'd fix him something a little special!

I made taco dippers.  Here is what you need:

1/4 cup broccoli/spinach/pea puree
1/4 cup zucchini/cauliflower puree
1/4 cup carrot/sweet potato puree
taco kit (I saved the wraps for another night)
ground beef
water
2 bags of corn dipping chips
salsa

I browned some ground beef, rinsed it (because I am anal about grease) and then put it back into the pan. Then I added the broccoli puree, the cauliflower puree and the carrot puree and mixed it around.  Finally I threw in the taco seasoning and water.  Mix that up, and then (for us) I added the little taco salsa stuff that comes in the kit.  I mixed it once more and its done!

I serve this with corn chip dippers that I found for 67 cents at walmart for a bag (in the tortilla chip aisle).  You can serve with cheese if you want too.  I also put out a bowl of salsa and raw veggies.  The kids scoop up the taco meat in their chip, add some salsa and yum! 

This meal has tons of veggies in it that they don't even know about!  I love that. 

Recipe for puree #5

Mmmm... spinach water.  Nothing smells nastier while making it - lol.  You simply are boiling spinach in water and squeezing out all its juices.  Sounds tasty - lol.  Here's what you need.

3 cups of baby spinach washed very well
1 cup water

(I triple this recipe so I only have to do it once in awhile)

Bring your water to a boil and add spinach.  Turn down heat to allow it to simmer for about 20 minutes.  Then strain out over a bowl.  Really press the spinach down in one of those mesh strainers to get every last bit of juice out.  Don't toss the spinach pulp, just add it to green puree.

Once you have it all then pour it into a measuring cup (to keep it simple to pour).  Then pour into ice cube trays.  Freeze the cubes, and once frozen pop them all into a freezer bag.  1 tbsp of this juice is equal in nutrition to 1/4 cup of raw spinach.  There is about 2 tbsp in each cube.  This is awesome to add to omlettes (instead of water or milk) since it does not change color or taste but essentially adds 1/2 cup of spinach to it!  You can add it to so many things.  Pancakes, orange juice, homemade popsicles, pudding, jello, etc... Just sub out 2 tbsp of liquid and pop it in.  No one will be the wiser to it and you will be hailed as super sneaky!

 

Puree recipe #4

This is the puree that works perfectly with anything chocolate!  For the blueberry and spinach puree you need frozen blueberries and spinach! 

3 cups of baby spinach
1 cup blueberries
water (if needed)

Just bring your blueberries to room temperature and throw them in the food processor with the raw spinach.  Puree it to a smooth consistency.  Use water if needed to make sure it is very smooth with no little chunks that kids will clue in on! 

Then scoop out in 1/4 cup measures and plop into a snack size ziploc bag.  Freeze flat.  Then toss all your bags into a big freezer bag.  Thaw out in warm water before using!

Recipe for Puree #3

Here is the super fabulous spinach, green peas and broccoli puree.  It is the hardest to hide in things, but I always feel awesome when I do - lol.  Here is what you need:

1 head of broccoli
1 bag of baby spinach
1 bag of frozen peas

I use about 4 cups of baby spinach (washed and raw).  Then I use about 2 cups of frozen peas and the full head of broccoli.  Cook the broccoli and the frozen peas until tender, and throw them in the food processor with the raw spinach (I usually puree the spinach first).  Puree it down as smooth as possible, adding a little water if needed (use as little water as possible).

Then just scoop it out with your 1/4 cup measure and plop it into a snack size ziploc bag.  Freeze flat and then toss the bags into a freezer bag.  Thaw out in warm water before you need it.  If you are using it in a soup you can throw it in frozen too. 

Recipe for Puree #2

The second puree recipe is the one for cauliflower and zucchini.  I always spell zucchini wrong in my recipes.  Just go with it - lol.  So for this one you need:

1 head of cauliflower
3 small zucchinis
water

I cook the cauliflower (boil) until tender.  I first of course washed it and broke it up into smaller pieces.  Then I peel the zucchinis so all green is removed (if you peel too lightly they will stay green and your puree will be green).  Chop your zucchini into chunks and puree raw.  Add cauliflower chunks and puree it completely, adding water as necessary to get it to the right consistency. 

Scoop it out into 1/4 cup measures and plop into a snack size ziploc bag.  Freeze flat, then throw into a freezer bag.  To thaw, I just pop the bag into warm water before I need it :o)

Puree recipe #1

My most favorite puree recipe is a combination of carrots and sweet potato.  Many people call this an orange puree (as referred to in the Sneaky Chef books).  Here is how to make it:

1 medium sweet potato
3-4 carrots
water

I always use a gigantic sweet potato and about 8 carrots - lol.  Using the above recipe will only give you about 1 cup of puree.  Using a giant sweet potato gives you a good 2 to 2.5 cups of puree.  Remember you are freezing them in 1/4 cup measures, so I usually go big to save time. 

What you do is simply cook the carrots in rough chunks along with sweet potato chunks (I boil for about 20 minutes).  Then strain them and throw them into the food processor.  Add some water (the less the better).  Puree into a nice thick consistancy. 

I then scoop in 1/4 cup measures into those handy dandy little snack ziploc bags.  Then freeze flat, and throw into a large freezer bag.  I thaw them out in warm water before I need them.  Super easy!

Zesty chicken sandwiches!

Tonight is pulled chicken sandwich night.  I thought I'd switch it up a bit and do a zesty chicken sandwich on fresh homemade kaiser rolls.  I like my food to be zesty - and my life!  LOL. 

So here is how to make the chicken

You need
- crockpot
- 3 chicken breasts
- 1 bottle bbq sauce (I use chicken and rib)
- 1/4 cup pureed carrot and sweet potato
- 2 cubes of frozen spinach juice (remember this equals 1 full cup of spinach!)
- 1/2 cup of vinegar

Mix all sauce ingredients (thaw your purees if needed, and your cubes).  Put the chicken in a slow cooker and pour sauce over.  I had about 1/2 cup of sauce left over from my mixture.  So I popped it into a container in the fridge.  It would baste burgers perfectly for another dinner.

Cook on high for 1 hour, and then low for 3 more hours.   Take chicken out before serving and pull it apart with 2 forks.  Return to slow cooker and toss in the sauce. 

I am going to serve this with kaiser rolls.  My kids BEGGED for white bread today.  "Nothing weird mom - no germ or anything" they beg.  Okay, so I will make these buns primarily white.  Not fully of course - lol.  But hopefully they don't notice.

Here's what to do:

2 tablespoons active dry yeast

2 cups warm water (110° to 115°), divided

4 tablespoons sugar, divided

1/3 cup canola oil

2 teaspoons salt

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup wheat germ

1 egg white

2 teaspoons cold water

Poppy and/or sesame seeds

Directions

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Add 1 tablespoon sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the oil, salt, remaining warm water and sugar and 4 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in remaining flour/wheat germ to form a soft dough.
• Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. This is where I use my handy dandy Bosch mixer!  Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 16 pieces. Shape each into a ball. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
• Beat egg white and cold water; brush over rolls. Sprinkle with poppy and/or sesame seeds.
• Put a shallow baking dish half full of water on the lowest rack in your oven. 
• Bake at 400° on a middle rack for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.
• Yield: 16 rolls.

Serve your pulled chicken over fresh buns with some raw veggies and enjoy! 

Sneaky Monday Meatballs II

Okay so it is meatball monday again!  Instead of doing BBQ meatballs, I happened upon a can of crushed pineapple!  What a fun way to start an awesome sneaky sweet and sour sauce!

Okay so here goes!  I used a box of frozen blue menu lean italian meatballs for this.  It has 64 meatballs in the box for $6.99.  There is very little fat on them and they taste good.  This is faster than making meatballs, which I do sometimes do but not this month! 

Sauce:
1 can crushed pineapple
4 tbsp of white vinegar
2 tbsp reduced salt soy sauce
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
sprinkle of hot dried pepper flakes
sprinkle of seasoning salt
1/4 cup of pureed broccoli/spinach/peas
palmful of sesame seeds (optional)
2 cubes of spinach juice
1 colored pepper cut in rough chunks (to be able to be picked out - lol)
a few extra pineapple wedges (optional)

Mix up all your sauce ingredients (not including the cornstarch or pepper chunks or pineapple wedges) in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Then add your pepper wedges and pineapple chunks. 

Meanwhile, pour your frozen meatballs into a slow cooker.  Turn on low.

Pour your sauce over your meatballs and continue to cook on low for about 4 hours.  This sneaky sauce has fruit (pineapple), veggies (broccoli, spinach and peas) and extra veggie power (the spinach juice that 1 tbsp is the same as 1/4 cup raw spinach leaves - so two cubes is equal to 4 tbsp which is the same as 1 entire cup of raw spinach leaves!)

What I like to serve with this is quinoa!   Have you tried it?  Most commonly considered a grain, quinoa is actually a relative of leafy green vegetables like spinach and Swiss chard.  It has a tasty, fluffy, creamy, slightly crunchy texture and a somewhat nutty flavor when cooked.  It is also extremely nutritious.  Not only is quinoa high in protein (6g of protein in 1/4 cup!), but the protein it supplies is complete protein, meaning that it includes all nine essential amino acids. Quinoa's amino acid profile well balanced, making it a good choice for vegans concerned about adequate protein intake, and quinoa is especially well-endowed with the amino acid lysine, which is essential for tissue growth and repair.  It also has 3g of fiber in a 1/4 cup. 

In order to make the quinoa more nutritious (of course I have to meddle with it!) here is what I do:

- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups water
- 1/4 cup pureed cauliflower/zuchinni

I cook my quinoa in my rice cooker.  It is fast.  Pour the quinoa and water into the cooker and cook!  Once done, I add my pureed veggies and a bit of salt and pepper for seasoning (optional).  Mix and serve with your meatballs!  Sooo yummy!

To be extra veggie-ish I also will serve this with veggies on the side.  Today it will be raw veggies since I am sure my kids will at least eat one carrot stick - lol!

Enjoy!

Monday (spinach) Milkshake

To go with the kids Monday morning oatmeal bars I decided to throw together a chocolate milkshake.  They were so surprised and thrilled to wake up to this today!!

Okay so this is a stock photo, but looks close enough.  I am so OCD that I would NEVER let the shake run over the side.  LOL.  The thought of it is bugging me already!

Anyway...

Our oatmeal bars were jam packed with oatbran, oats, cauliflower/zuchinni and soymilk.  But I thought I'd like to get some spinach into them today.  The best way to get them to eat spinach is to get them to eat chocolate!  They downed these shakes like nobody's buisness!

Chocolate Spinach Shake

(this made 4 glasses)

- 4 cups of chocolate almond milk
- 1/4 cup spinach and blueberry puree
- 1 TBSP unsweetened cocoa
- 4 TBSP frozen low fat frozen yogurt (I spoiled the kids with a bit of real dairy today)
- 1/2 cup ice

Throw it all into a blender and blend until smooth!  Pour out and serve with a straw.  Like I said, my kids drank these so fast, and then told me "that was very good!" and "we should have this again!".

Mwah hahaha.

Sneaky Vegetarian Spaghetti

Sunday night is spaghetti night in the Eklund house.  This is a good meal for a Sunday, since I cook the sauce in my crockpot and it can go in before church so it is just simmering all day long.  Spaghetti is an inexpensive meal that serves lots too, so you can always bring someone home for dinner and have a great meal that pretty much anyone will eat - even the pickiest eaters!

Sauce:
1 can tomato sauce (680ml)
2 cans tomato paste (360ml)
2 cans of water (use paste cans)
2 packets of spaghetti seasoning (clubhouse)
2 tsp of minced garlic
2 level tablespoons of sugar
1-2 green pepper (largely chopped)
Palmful of oregano
¼ cup sweet potato and carrot puree
¼ cup green peas, spinach and broccoli puree
¼ cup zucchini and cauliflower puree
1 tbsp canola oil (keeps sauce from burning since there is no meat in it)

Add all ingredients into a Crockpot.  I largely chop the green pepper since my kids HATE green pepper but we like it, and I like the flavour it adds to the sauce.  Having them largely chopped makes it easy to pick out before you pour on your kids pasta – lol.  Turn Crockpot on low for 6-8 hours.  The sauce can optionally be turned on high for 3 hours if you will be at home.    


Pasta:
1 bag/box of pasta
½ cup of white bean puree
¼ cup cauliflower and zucchini puree
2 tbsp of vegan margarine (or butter)
¼ cup of water

Cook your pasta, drain.  In a small saucepan melt your margarine or butter.  Add your ½ cup of white bean puree, zucchini cauliflower puree, some salt and pepper and blend well.  Add the ¼ cup of water and blend again (the water makes the sauce thinner).  Then pour over your pasta to coat. 

The white bean paste combines with your pasta to create a complete protein!  It also adds fiber to a high carb meal, especially since my kids like white pasta.  The veggie puree in it adds extra veggies since my kids always want more pasta “with no sauce” after their first helping. 

Serve your spaghetti sauce over your pasta and sprinkle with a bit of cheese (or dairy free cheese in our case!).  Enjoy!

A little change of plans... Taco night tonight!

We were supposed to do ham and perogies for dinner tonight, but we have a birthday party tommorrow and they are serving pizza.  I didn't want to do real dairy two nights in a row (and pizza is way more of a spoil than perogies!).  So I made tacos tonight - much to my husband's approval! 

Here's our healthy taco recipe!

Ground beef

Soft Taco Kit
½ cup pureed broccoli/spinach/peas
Dairy free cheese (or real cheese)
Lettuce
Salsa

Brown beef and drain.  Add pureed veggies and mix until evenly distributed (the meat will turn somewhat green – lol).  Then get your taco seasoning out of the taco kit.  Put it on the meat and add water as directed.  The seasoning will turn the meat back to a brown color.  Simmer until thickened.  Then I add about ½ the packet of enclosed taco sauce/salsa to the meat.  It gives the tacos some heat and truly masks any veggie flavour!  My kids love their spicy food. 

Spoon over warm tortillas and top with grated veggies, dairy free cheese (or cheese for you non-dairy intolerant people) and extra salsa… I stay away from sour cream as it is just extra mostly empty calories, but you could try adding subbing it with plain greek yogurt instead if you are a dairy eating family!

This meal cost me:

$3 for the lean ground beef

$2.50 for the Great Value Taco Kit
$0.50 for the pureed veggies
$0.25 for the salsa
$1.50 for the dairy free cheese
$0.25 for the grated lettuce

Total cost: $8.00 to serve a family of 6 a yummy Mexican dinner!  That makes it work out to about $1.33 per person :o)  The extra veggies hidden in the meat give a nice little healthy boost to the meal.  Especially for kids (like mine) who only want meat and cheese on their taco - lol!

 

Chocolate chip cookies!

Mmmm.... chocolate chip cookies!  They smell and taste so good that no one will know that they have sneaky healthy ingredients! 

Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup of butter/margerine
1/4 cup pureed white beans
1/4 cup pureed cauliflower/zuchinni
1/2 cup melted white chocolate chips
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp oat bran
2 tbsp wheat germ
1/2 cup miniature semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 

Combine flours, oat bran and wheat germ with salt and baking soda.  Set aside.  In a mixing bowl, cream melted butter/margerine, white bean puree, and sugars until fluffy.  In a small saucepan slowly melt 1/2 cup white chocolate chips and then pour melted chocolate into the mixing bowl and combine with sugar mixture.  Add your cauliflower/zuchinni puree and egg and extra egg yolk and blend well.  Then mix in your flour mixture until combined.  Add the 1/2 cup of miniature chocolate chips until the chocolate chips are throughout your cookie batter. 

Scoop out in small teaspoon amounts and place about an inch apart on the pan.  Once the pan is full bake for 10-12 minutes until top of cookies are starting to be slightly golden.  Take pan from oven, and let sit on pan for an additional 3 minutes.  After the 3 minutes, transfer cookies to cooling racks. 

This batch made 83 cookies for me! 

I was able to cut down 1/2 the sugar, 1/3 of the butter and add a whole bunch of whole grains from my original (and favorite) cookie recipe.  And I have to say, that these turned out pretty darn yummy!

Popeye Eggs & bacon

I got the base recipe for this from my book The Sneaky Chef.  I can't do what they do though, since we are avoiding dairy.  So I altered it to work with us and with my budget! 

"Popeye Eggs & Bacon":

6 large eggs
2 frozen ice cubes of spinach juice (will write how to make below)
6 slices of whole wheat bread
salt & pepper
2 tbsp real bacon bits

Scramble the eggs with the spinach juice, salt and pepper and bacon.  Cook in your skillet.  Toast your toast and top with margerine (I use vegan which is casein free). 

Serve warm and enjoy!  Your kids won't even notice the spinach juice in the eggs and it gives such a nutritional boost. 

How to make spinach juice:
- 3 cups washed baby spinach fresh
- 1 cup water.

Bring spinach and water to boil, and simmer for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes pour through a fine strainer and squish the pulp of the spinach with a spoon or spatula to get all juices released.  Freeze your spinach juice in ice cube containers, then once frozen move into a heavy freezer bag. 

This is extremely healthy and just a single tablespoon is the same as eating 1/4 cup of raw spinach leaves.  This has iron, calcium and digestive enzymes.  Super awesome!

(this meal fed my kids - I give each child 1.5 eggs and 1.5 slices of toast.  It keeps them full for the whole morning - and that is with hungry boy tummies!)

Piggies in a healthy blanket!

My kids LOVE hot dogs.  I don't know a kid who doesn't actually.  So I try to make them hotdogs a few times a month.  Well, we made it our Thursday dinner, so I have to try and make it healthy!  Here goes!

You will need a dozen hot dogs.  I buy Great Value chicken ones.  They cost me $1.27 at the store.  Can't find them cheaper than that - lol.

Then you need to make your biscut dough!

Here is the recipe!

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 TBSP oat bran

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon white sugar

1/3 cup shortening

1 cup organic unsweetened soymilk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Gradually stir in milk until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
2. Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead 15 to 20 times  
3. Then I put it into the fridge for a few minutes.  This is when I cook my hotdogs (I boil mine). 
4. Cut your hotdogs into pieces (I cut each one in half)
5. Take your dough out of the fridge.  Pinch off a ball and flatten gently (maybe make all your balls first to have enough for all the piggies).  Roll up around your hotdog pieces.  Place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
6. Once your baking sheet is full, pop it into the oven for about 7 minutes.  Turn pan after the timer goes and put in for another 5 minutes or until "blanket" is golden.
7. Let cool

Now there are a ton of whole grains and fiber in your piggies "blanket" thanks to the whole wheat and the oat bran.  But where are the veggies???  Time to get creative!
My kids LOVE to dip their pigs into yummy ketchup and/or mustard.  What's a hotdog without ketchup and mustard anyway???  So that is where you can get creative. 

In a small bowl whisk together 1/8 cup of ketchup with 1/8 cup of sweet potato/carrot puree.  In another bowl, whisk together 1/8 cup of mustard with 1/8 cup of zuchinni/cauliflower puree.  They can dip their way into their veggies and will never know the difference!  PLUS offer carrot sticks or other veggies on the side.

Here is the approximate cost for the meal:

$1.27 for the hotdogs
$1.00 for the dough (probably over estimating)
$0.25 for the ketchup with puree
$0.25 for the mustard with puree
$1.00 for the veggies on the side

Total cost: $3.77 to feed a family of 6.  That works out to be a meer 63 cents for dinner per person.  63 cents!  What kind of dinner can you get for so little?  AND my kids swear this one is their favorite!  LOL. 

Enjoy!