Welcome to Round 3 of the Hidden Veggies Roundup! We’ve now hidden vegetables in popsicles and smoothies, and it’s time for the real deal. Or rather, the real meal. Not that you can’t have a smoothie or a popsicle (or 2) as a meal, but now we’re talking savory dishes that you’d serve for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. There’s really no fruit this time around to sweeten the taste of the vegetables, so it’s time to get creative!
Here’s 7 different recipes on how to hide vegetables in savory creations, but before I get to the recipes themselves, I’ll share my secret – vegetable purees. I know you’ve seen them in popsicles and smoothies, but they also work great in sauces. Instead of mixing them with fruit, I like making them with homemade stock. I also like to stick with the same color family. As in, you want to mix a puree with Mac & Cheese? Don’t use the green puree. Sounds a bit intuitive, but I was dumb enough to try hiding asparagus soup (delicious on its own!) and I will tell you now – it. did. not. work. However, a little butternut squash puree in the fake-tastically orange Mac & Cheese from the big blue box? That went down like a charm! I like making my butternut squash puree more like a thick soup, with a homemade chicken stock and mirepoix. Everything gets blended together, frozen in ice cube trays and taken out for some veggie injection on the sly.
Here’s some other recipe inspirations for you sneaky mamas!
Eating Well Living Thin Quinoa Burger
Eat Yourself Skinny Cauliflower Mac & Cheese
Fine Cooking Baked Penne with Cauliflower and Cheese
Oh My Veggies Sweet Potato French Bread Cups
The Paleo Mom Plantain Crackers
The Sneaky Chef Barbell Burgers
Mama Say What Carrot Zucchini Pancakes
What sneaky recipes have you tried? Are there particular purees or techniques you use to great success?
Here’s the rest of the Hidden Veggies series!
My husband considers steak a vegetable so these recipes would come in really handy for him! I saw him eat broccoli (on purpose!) once and I thought he had a head injury. I really looking forward to making the cauliflower mac and cheese1
You know what’s sad? I don’t need to hide the veggies to make my daughter eat, but I do have to hide them to make my husband eat them! He is anti-green anything! Loving these round-ups ChiWei. Great ideas. I’ll have my hubby eating veggies in no time! 🙂
Love what you’re testing here! Purees are such a sneak-tastic way to get extra fruits and veggies into meals. For sweet dishes, I am a big fan of using pureed mango, apple, pumpkin or dates…and even avocado or beets! Purees add moisture to baked goods, and up the cups of fruits and veggies in every meal!
Hope you’ll be testing some baking recipes next–I’d love to chat with you. Thanks for sharing your results!
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