How do you hide your veggies? Include recipes please!

[RadioFanatic]

I have a three year old who hates to eat veggies. Although I give him vitamins, I have been trying to hide the veggies. For example, last night i made mac and cheese with pumpkin. I was thinking I would love to get othrs recipes on hiding veggies to use for my son. Here is mine:

either one can pumpkin or 2 cups fresh pumpkin which has been baked or boiled (I used fresh)
one package cream cheese (can use ff)
one bag shredded cheddar (I used lowfat)
one can evaporated milk (I used ff)
one box pasta (cook it first)
garlic to taste

in blender, blend pumpkin and evaporated milk until completely liquefied. in large sauce pan, place package of cream cheese and liquid to melt cream cheese. when completely melted, add pasta. separating 1/4 cup of cheddar out of bag, place rest of cheddar into saucepan until completely melted. Either eat like that, or place entire amount in a casserole dish and sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Put in oven at 350 degrees to melt cheese on top.

Your turn! Hiders of veggies unite!

 

[luvmy3]

My kid's love veggies so I don't have any personal advice but my SIL swears by the book Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld to feed her veggie/fruit hating kids.

 

[Liberty Belle]

I don't have to - my oldest will eat almost any vegetable, as long as it's raw. My youngest - he has sensory issues and won't eat much of anything, anyway. We've got him on a multi-vitamin.

When I was little, my mom used to grate up carrots and cook them in the mashed potatoes. I always thought that's how mashed potatoes came until I was a lot older. lol

 

[BCDisneyFanatic]

If you're making tacos or spaghetti sauce with ground meat, finely grate a couple of carrots and throw it in when the meat is finished cooking but before you add the spices/tomato/etc. You can't even really see it since it gets coloured along with the meat, and it doesn't change the taste.

 

[minniebeth]

My kid's love veggies so I don't have any personal advice but my SIL swears by the book Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld to feed her veggie/fruit hating kids.

I love that cookbook! Her book has great family friendly recipes that are healthy with lots of ways to incorporate fruits and veggies into recipes. I highly recommend it!

 

[Mrs. Sojourner]

If you're making tacos or spaghetti sauce with ground meat, finely grate a couple of carrots and throw it in when the meat is finished cooking but before you add the spices/tomato/etc. You can't even really see it since it gets coloured along with the meat, and it doesn't change the taste.

I add finely diced carrots and zucchini to a lot of things. My kids like veggies, but unfortuantely not many of the ones we can get here regularly.

 

[walden]

If you're making tacos or spaghetti sauce with ground meat, finely grate a couple of carrots and throw it in when the meat is finished cooking but before you add the spices/tomato/etc. You can't even really see it since it gets coloured along with the meat, and it doesn't change the taste.

I also add pureed cauliflower to mashed potatoes. Colcannon (mashed potatoes with very finely chopped cabbage) tops my cottage pies -- and the cottage pies have extra veggies hidden in the ground beef mix. I have also hidden finely chopped zucchini, a little spinach and grated carrot in meatloaf. Just mix them in thoroughly and cook as usual. Kids sometimes wince at the "green bits" but rarely have the energy to pick them out.

Also try serving the veggies raw with a dip. I much prefer raw veggies myself.

 

[EdiePA]

Have them help you prepare the veggies. My sons are 28 and 26 now, but I was always amazed at what they would eat when they helped to make it. We used plastic knives to cut broccoli into little "trees" to have with dip (cottage cheese blended in the blender with a little dry ranch dressing powder) and "ants on a log" (celery with a little almond butter and a couple raisins on top.) They even would eat stuffed peppers if we used the orange or red peppers.

Also, my dad hated chunks of vegetables in stews and sauces. My mom would cut up carrots, celery and onions. She threw them in the blender with lots of water and "chopped" them finely, then she would pour them into a strainer to get rid of the extra water and then plop the veggies into the sauce. Works really well.

Edie

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I see no reason to "hide" vegetables. Kids need to learn to eat healthy, and that sometimes means eating stuff they don't necessarily like at a young age.

 

[OceanAnnie]

My kid's love veggies so I don't have any personal advice but my SIL swears by the book Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld to feed her veggie/fruit hating kids.

I like that book too. I didn't use the recipes, just the ideas.

One idea I have used with success is to steam and puree broccoli and add it to brownies. I'd add about 1/2 a cup or so to a packaged mix (prepare as directed and just add the 1/2 cup pureed broccoli). The key is to let it cool. The flavor of the broccoli can't be detected when they are cool.

My kids will eat certain veggies. More is always a good thing.

ETA- I have added pureed cauliflower to spaghetti sauce, and all sorts of dishes. Works like a charm.

 

[almburr]

I see no reason to "hide" vegetables. Kids need to learn to eat healthy, and that sometimes means eating stuff they don't necessarily like at a young age.

I hate the commercial for Chef Boyarde where the dad Is trying to say that it has # of servings of vegetables, and the mo is banging the pans trying to shut him up. My kids watch it and ask me why is she trying to hide the veggies? and dont the kids know that a tomato is part of the fruits and vegetables? I just shrug.

 

[minniebeth]

I see no reason to "hide" vegetables. Kids need to learn to eat healthy, and that sometimes means eating stuff they don't necessarily like at a young age.

For us, it's not a matter of "hiding" vegetables~ my kids have always been great vegetable eaters, it's a way to incoporate more healthy items into the foods we already eat. It's hard to get older kids, especially, to eat the amount of servings of fruits and vegetables they should have each day. We eat mosly "whole foods" rather than packaged, so it's easier to do.

 

[ENSOCK]

I am lucky that my boys love veggies. They even love the greens, ie spinach, turnip and mustard greens. I can cook the spinach but the others they have to eat elsewhere. But I have been known, when they were little and going thru stages of not wanted to eat things, to "hide" veggies in spaghetti sauce or other sauces. Mostly zuccuni, carrots or eggplant. Now that they are teenagers I just have to hide the pot so that everyone can get a serving!

 

[Darth Boeder]

My Dh will not eat veggies. I have to hide them a lot of the time. I use my stick blender and pulverize them until they are nothing and then add them to what I am cooking.

 

[Swank]

I hide my veggies in the little plastic box in the bottom of my refrigerator. It fools me every time. The only problem is they seem to rot away after a couple of weeks so I have to throw them away and buy more at the supermarket.

 

[kirbydog48]

When my ds was 3, he was more of a grazer. I would use a muffin pan and put little things in each cup and let him just pick what he wanted. He loved to dip things at that age; apple slices dipped in peanut butter, baby carrots dipped in a dressing i made from plain yogurt. Sometimes they need up to 10 tries before they really decide to like it or not. I tried not to make a big deal of it or put pressure on him, and gradually he was eating most vegetables. I would also have him "help" me make the vegetables for dinner. He would stand on a chair and would put the vegetables in the pot, pour the water from a measuring cup into the pot, etc. That got him involved and more inclined to eat.

 

[palavra]

I hate the commercial for Chef Boyarde where the dad Is trying to say that it has # of servings of vegetables, and the mo is banging the pans trying to shut him up. My kids watch it and ask me why is she trying to hide the veggies? and dont the kids know that a tomato is part of the fruits and vegetables? I just shrug.

I agree about hiding the veggies. Try cooking vegetables in different ways and introducing new ones slowly. In America, we do often cook veggie to death and add little flavor. Try green beans stir fried in olive oil and garlic, honey and ginger carrots or corn and black bean salsa with fresh tomatoes, cilantro and onion. Really, there is no reason we have to serve plain vegetables to our kids. It might take a while to develop their palate, but it will be worth it in the long run.

 

[katesorad]

I don't have children, but my in-laws will only eat canned veggies (took me a while to get my DH to eat fresh ones!).. so one time when I made mashed potatoes (they will only eat boxed), I lied and said they were from a box.. and I did a few potatoes and a head of cauliflower. Cooked them together, mashed them with my immersion blender.. YUMMY! They caught me on the fact that it was fresh potatoes, but to this day, they will never know that there was cauliflower in them.

 

[AnOtHeRdIsNeYfReAk]

Last year I had so much zucchini from the garden we were using it in everything. The most interesting (and tasty) were the Zucchini Brownies. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Zucchini-Brownies/Detail.aspx

I also like to add shredded carrots and diced cucumbers to tuna and homemade veggie burgers and zucchini fries are a huge hit. When they were younger I used to make "pictures" with veggies as a snack. -A thin celery stick as a stem, broccoli as leaves, cucumbers or zucchini as petals and a small dipping cup with tzatziki (yogurt, cucumber, garlic and dill dip) as the center of the flower.

 

[Nette]

I am lucky that my boys love veggies. They even love the greens, ie spinach, turnip and mustard greens. I can cook the spinach but the others they have to eat elsewhere. But I have been known, when they were little and going thru stages of not wanted to eat things, to "hide" veggies in spaghetti sauce or other sauces. Mostly zuccuni, carrots or eggplant. Now that they are teenagers I just have to hide the pot so that everyone can get a serving!

If that's not tag-worthy, then I don't know what is.