Friday, January 2, 2009

Get Abundant Veggies Into Your Kids!


This time of year, after an excess of too much food and fat, many of us start thinking about eating more healthy. This should go for getting your kids back on track as well as they have probably been eating as badly as you have! (Although my girl has not been slugging eggnog like it's water like her momma....)

Last year 2 books came out which I love for getting veggies into your kids, Deceptively Delicious and The Sneaky Chef. Both are all about sneaking good-for-you fruits and veggies into stuff your kids normally eat.

I'm actually blessed with a good eater. She used to be a GREAT eater, but over the past year she' s become a little more picky than she used to be. Even though she gets her share of Fruits and Veggies I feel like the more I can get her to eat the better!


Tonight we had the in-laws over and for dessert I served Applesauce Muffins with Carrot puree. They had an oatmeal topping and mixed into the batter and were suitable for anyone, not just kids. Some other favorites of ours include breakfast ice cream made with banana, plain yogurt and avocado and chocolate chip cookies with a can of garbanzo beans added to the batter-Those are so good!

The books do have similar recipes but are different enough that I find them both useful. I actually bought them last year because they were in such high demand at the library. This year you could probably find them there easily.

Both authors are big on low fat so the recipes contain low or no fat yogurt/Cheese, etc and trans fat free margarine. As I don't personally recognize margarine or low fat cheese as food I just substitute butter and real cheese and whole milk yogurt as we like it better. Everything else is pretty basic and most of the recipes can be made with things you probably already buy!

2 comments:

Karley Ziegler Mott said...

Good books. Luckily, both boys love veggies and get in their required servings, but more won't hurt--

Ellie Krieger from Food Network shared some great tips last year on her show--a macaroni and cheese recipe using winter squash (LOOKS very cheesy, blends in smoothly with the low-fat cheese) and a carrot muffin which tastes like carrot cake. You'd never know they were full of veggies :)

I always puree veggies into soup stocks and sauces as well (celery, carrots, squashes are very undetectable for this, add a richer texture and don't interfere with flavor).

Christine said...

I've made mac and cheese like that and it's amazing-You really can't tell and it tastes great!

I like the idea of adding to the soups and stews. These books don't have too many soup recipes which is a shame as my girl really loves soup! I will try that next time!