Eat your veggies!

Awhile ago, I got the book Deceptively Delicious. It has a few good recipes; enough to link to it on this page. However, the real amazing thing was that it opened my eyes to a new way of cooking - adding in veggies wherever I could.

Basically, you make a bunch of vegetables into baby food. Then you add wherever. Cauliflower to scrambled eggs, squash to noodles, sweet potatoes in tomato sauce. You name it, I've probably done it.

One of my most favorite tricks is putting something in the kid's cheese sauce for Mac and Cheese.

First, I take a box of store-bought quickie stuff. In theory, I would be making homemade and freezing it. Unfortunately, my kids are wise to this trick and will not eat it. So, I'm forced to used boxed. The compromise is that I buy the all natural stuff. You can get it in bulk - for a good price - at Amazon.com. Especially considering that you get free shipping for anything over $25.00.

Go ahead and cook the noodles as instructed, drain, return pot to hot stove.

Add a teaspoon of butter, a tablespoon of milk, one half cup of vegetable puree, and the packet of cheese. Whisk together until bubbly and creamy. Add noodles, stir for about 30 seconds and take of burner.

As far as the kind of vegetable - think thick and cheesy. I've tried cauliflower and sweet potato with good success. Green, overpowering, and watery vegetables probably wouldn't work as well.

My kids eat this down as if there was nothing in it. Would it be better for them to eat vegetables on their own? Sure, but this is a sneaky way to get a few extra down!