Fun with Veggies and Country Crock

This post is sponsored by Country Crock. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

With so many food choices out there from pizza and chips to pasta and hamburgers,  there’s no wonder so many of us don’t get the recommended daily amount of vegetables in to our diet.

And it’s especially difficult this day and age to get picky kids to eat their vegetables. But did you know that 8 of 10 kids think veggies with Country Crock are delicious?

And Country Crock Chronicle has tons of great recipes to help you bring delicious flavor to the table.

To make these even better, Country Crock Chronicle has some really fun and creative ways to serve vegetables to your kids, and these ideas now available in the free downloadable Clare Crespo Cookbook.

Since we’re big sports fans, I decided to make Out of the Park Baseballs from the Clare Crespo Cookbook.  It is a fun new spin on mashed potatoes! (I must admit, mine aren’t quite as cute as theirs, partially because I always make mashed potatoes chunky, but you get the idea, I’m sure!)

Recipe for Out of the Park Baseballs:

Ingredients:
1 medium red pepper, seed and very thinly sliced
3 medium baking potatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 tbsp. Country Crock spread
2 tbsp. reduced fat sour cream
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

Bring small saucepan of water to a boil.  Add pepper slices and boil until pliable, about 5 minutes; drain.  In medium saucepan cook potatoes in salted water until tender, about 15 minutes.  Drain the potatoes, reserving 2 tablespoon cooking, then return potatoes to the saucepan.

Add the Country Crock Spread, sour cream, garlic, salt and pepper. Mash with a potato masher or a ricer until the ingredients are blended and mixture is fluffy. Add the reserved water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the potatoes are the desired consistency (keep them stiff enough to hold their shape).

Using an ice cream scoop, mold a scoop of potatoes into a half sphere on a plate. Add pepper strips to resemble laces. Cuts strips of pepper into 1/4 inch pieces to make cross-stitches.  Make additional baseballs with remaining potatoes and peppers.

And this is just one of 25 delicious and fun veggie recipes found in the cookbook.  Some other favorites I like from the book include the Pizza Flag, Veggie Pets, Beautiful Butterflies, Pasta Full of Posies, and Hippo Dip.

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Are you looking for quick and simple tips and recipes to make serving veggies more fun? Download the free Clare Crespo Cookbook here for fun and whimsical recipes your family is sure to love!