Do You "Hide" Vegetables?

[justgettingstarted]

I have all one and two year olds and most are picky eaters. At lunch I always offer a veggie alone (steamed carrots, broccoli, peas, corn, or green beans) but I also try to hide a more difficult veggie in the main dish. Right now I put finely chopped spinach in the cheese quesadillas, pureed squash in the pasta sauce, and serve sweet potato fries with the grilled cheese. I also bake zucchini bread muffins occassionally. I would love more ideas for ways to get other veggies in their little bodies. Has anyone had any success wwith cauliflower or brussel sprouts?. Some of my kids live on junk when not here Thanks!

[lil angels]

I purée a lot of different veggies and put them in ice cube containers freeze them then put them in a ziplock and use it whenever I can. Cauliflower is good in Mac and cheese and spinach is good in red sauces. Shredded carrots are good in meatloaf. Those are a couple I think of off hand.

[NeedaVaca]

You can also put cauliflower in mashed potatoes, kids won't be able to tell!

[daycare]

yes and no.... I do hide some so that they will get some sort of veggie in them, but I also do offer something that they are aware of and can see that I serve them veggies...

have you tried giving vanilla yogurt to dip with? that seems to work wonders for me.

[sharlan]

The only thing I hide veggies in is mac & cheese. I add either pureed carrots, squash, or sweet potatoes in it.

[thecrazyisout]

I do all of the above, and add cauliflower or butternut squash to grill cheese sandwiches.

[MamaBearCanada]

I offer vegetables so that they see them as whole foods, but I hide a lot.
Some examples:
spinach, dandelion, Swiss chard to smoothies
Mashed cauliflower, minced onion, minced celery, chopped spinach to meatballs, meatloaf, burgers, spaghetti sauce etc
puréed vegetables in soup base
I have even mixed small amounts of puréed vegetables into strong fruit flavored yoghurt

I'm going to try some of the other users ideas too, but I find if I keep offering the vegetables eventually they find some they like. Cheese sauce can help a lot too.

[Childminder]

Get "Deceptively Delicious," by Jessica Seinfeld. It is a cook book with tons of ideas on how to hide nutrition in recipes, from main dishes to desserts.

[LK5kids]

Great ideas here.

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

I don't know that I would use the term "hide". I cook with a lot of vegies. They are in a lot of my main dishes. I also offer a plain vegie with every meal and I keep my fruits identifiable, except smoothies because lets face it, they just love those. But, in a lot of my main dishes they get onion, celery, carrots, garlic etc. Meatloaf has grains and vegies added.
As always you can see my lunches at www.facebook.com/MrsSteinelsHouse I may have to start posting my "snack" aka dinner. Breakfast is almost always cereal, bananas and milk. Sometimes bagels, oatmeal, waffles make an apperance but my little ones like knowing. If I am changing I have to make it a big deal today we are having______ and half the time for some of them I still have to pour cereal into a bowl. I feed them organic O's no sugar added just milk.

[LK5kids]

I have all one and two year olds and most are picky eaters. At lunch I always offer a veggie alone (steamed carrots, broccoli, peas, corn, or green beans) but I also try to hide a more difficult veggie in the main dish. Right now I put finely chopped spinach in the cheese quesadillas, pureed squash in the pasta sauce, and serve sweet potato fries with the grilled cheese. I also bake zucchini bread muffins occassionally. I would love more ideas for ways to get other veggies in their little bodies. Has anyone had any success wwith cauliflower or brussel sprouts?. Some of my kids live on junk when not here Thanks!

U R doing a great job!!! Good 4 U offering these great additions to kid's meals!

[SunshineMama]

Check out the book, "Deceptively Delicious." The whole book is about hiding fruits and veggies, and there are some great recipes in it. You can do cauliflower pizza crust, or mashed cauliflower with some shredded cheese.

[adoreachild]

Not only yours but each and every kid doesn't like to eat vegetables. Even during your time also you definitely refuse to vegetables because I also. So, this is a common problem when the kids will grow up and learn about the need of these veges and their benefits they will start to eat it.

[CozyHome]

Pureed cauliflower or sweet potatoes go into my home made mac n cheese. Pureed tomatoes, peppers and onions go into my meatloaf, pasta dishes with tomato sauces and shepherds pie. There's a great book called the 'Sneaky Chef' which I recommend.

[MamaG]

Cauliflower is great diced and dipped in ranch. I let the kids use tooth picks to eat it. They'll eat almost anything if they can poke it or dip it. I put veggies in everything I cook and offer some on the side with a bit of butter. My kids love veggies and always eat them. I've never had to be sneaky about it.