I'm not sure I ever did "hidden" vegetables, or at least I never set out with that purpose in mind. But I do lots & lots of "stir-in" vegetables. Things like adding broccoli to mac & cheese, etc. I also do a lot of vegetable side dishes that have just a little bit of a sauce or something similar to dress it up a little. Another trick, if you have kids that like to dip (what kid doesn't?) is to allow them to dip veggies, both things like veggie tray type veggies to dip in ranch, and also things like broccoli to dip in cheese sauce.

I was not a good vegetable eater growing up, and in fact still not that good at it when I became a mother. But now I have a family where all of us really enjoy a lot of vegetables, both those that are dressed up in the various ways I described above, but also green salads and just plain baked potatoes or sweet potatoes and plain steamed veggies of all sorts.

It's not really 'hiding' but we add chopped spinach to lots of dishes. Started with it in small amounts in quesadillas (one of their favorite foods) and over time they accepted it as not totally evil. Now they'll eat it in pretty large quantities in eggs, rice and beans, burritos etc.

We also do a fair amount of baked goods with veggies - sweet potato zucchini bread, pumpkin muffins, etc. They'll eat pretty much anything in muffin form.

The other surprise hit in our house has been kale chips. My four year old won't touch anything resembling lettuce with a ten foot pole, yet he can't get enough of these.

Anonymous wrote:I buy mushrooms at costco. Whenever I'm making anything with groud beef I take a pound of mushrooms, run them through the food processor and then sautee them until the water is totally out. I then use that as filler in the ground beef. Makes for delicious burgers, spahgetti sauce and meatballs.

I make cauliflower and parsnips into "mashed potatoes". I make a ton of soups and run them through the blender. Last week I made an eggplant soup and told them it was cream of chicken.

This is the best thing I've read today.

I buy mushrooms at costco. Whenever I'm making anything with groud beef I take a pound of mushrooms, run them through the food processor and then sautee them until the water is totally out. I then use that as filler in the ground beef. Makes for delicious burgers, spahgetti sauce and meatballs.

I make cauliflower and parsnips into "mashed potatoes". I make a ton of soups and run them through the blender. Last week I made an eggplant soup and told them it was cream of chicken.

I make a chicken noodle stew that has a lot of carrots, celery, onion, and garlic mashed into the broth. I also add a lot of frozen spinach--the kind from Trader Joe's that is in little specks. Kids never notice, and it's all rich and chickeny and noodly.

butternut squash mac & cheese

mashed cauliflower in place of / mixed in with mashed potatoes

I can't stand Jessica Seinfeld and her pureed witchery.

Sweet potato, cauliflower or carrot purée in Mac n cheese

I know there are cookbooks on this, but I'm wondering what are YOUR favorite ways to hide veggies in food for the kids? (BTW, I do agree with the philosophy of also preparing regular veggies so kids learn to eat them, but there are times when I like to sneak veggies in in other ways too).

I often add diced eggplant, grated carrots and/or grated zuchini in meatballs or burgers. I also will add diced veggies in ground taco meat. Other ideas?