Hiding Veggies

My oldest Son has hit a phase in life where he doesn't want to eat his veggies. And some white color foods he won't go near. We keep trying. I will put veggies on his plate and offer them to him just to be turned down time and time again. So i decided to get creative.
I have hid veggies in his food.

Zucchini and carrot is easy to shred and hide in some foods. Zucchini is the best because it doesn't have much flavor.

Whole Wheat Pancakes: (very Easy to make, we double it for our family of 4 - 3 eating whole pancakes- and have 2 to 4 left over)
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 TBSP Brown Sugar (Honey works also)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1 Beaten Egg
1 Cup Buttermilk (1cup milk & 1TBSP vinegar or lemon juice)
2 TBSP cooking oil (or apple sauce for a healthier version)

Combine Dry ingredients. combine egg and oil, mix. Slowly add milk to egg mixture. Add wet ingredients on top of dry ingredients. Mix, lumps are ok. Cook for pancake goodness

So we like to add to this recipe:

• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Mashed Banana *
• A handful of Oatmeal
• Pumpkin* and pumpkin Spices
• Zucchini, cinnamon and nutmeg add some carrot too, why not.
• Mashed banana and Coconut
• i might of added shredded some Eggplant too...which is also tasteless,but turns brown...like a banana would.
• Shredded Apple

Oatmeal is also easy to add things too.
My sister in Law adds Pumpkin and pumpkin Spices. I sprinkled a little crushed graham cracker instead of Brown Sugar, and that was good.
Zucchini and carrot also works with some spices
Shredded Apple

Other Hidden Recipes:

• Shredded Veggies in Ground beef- made into hamburgers
• I tried shredded Zucchini in Grill Cheese, but my son caught me and snubbed it
• Chopped Fresh spinach in Scrambled Eggs. Visually its not so hidden, but you cant really taste the spinach
• Home made smoothies are the best. if you add enough blue berries it will hide any other color. If you add enough Orange juice it hides the flavor. my next Smoothie will have Tofu in it for protein.

Pumpkin in Mac and Cheese.

I usually eyeball this recipe. Basically i am making a white sauce/ gravy and adding cheese. So how ever you do it is great. I have one friend to adds butter-cream cheese and parm. cheese and it was good. This is enough for my two sons and I for lunch. Again i am just guessing on the measurements, do what you think is right:

2 TBSP butter
About 1/4 cup Flour
Milk
Cheese ( sharp works best)
2 TBSP plain Yogurt
2 TBSP Pumpkin
Garlic, salt and Pepper to taste

Add butter to hot (med heat) sauce pan and melt. Add Flour until butter is absorbed and makes clumps. Add a little milk maybe a 1/2 cup and whisk the until Butter clumps dissolve. Then add the rest, oh maybe 1-2 cups. Remember it will thicken as it cooks. Shred cheese and add to the sauce pan. Mix until cheese is dissolved. Add remaining ingredients. Taste and adjust as necessary, if sauce is too thick add more milk.



* according to Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book decrease milk when adding banana to a muffin mix. This is a good idea for the pancakes too. I added about 2 TBSP-1/4 cup of pumpkin to one recipe of pancakes and they were gooey in the middle.