Sneaky sneaky

For Christmas my mom gave us girls the BEST cookbook ever; The Sneaky Chef. (the original--not the one that is being sued right now.)

Getting ready to make dinner and dessert.

Basically, you're hiding good ingredients into foods that kids already know, eat and love. I have found that it is way easier to have the purees and blends made ahead of time. Not just for speed in making the meal but also to just throw it in there, quickly, without being seen. ;) Much easier than having to make all of the purees fresh...recipes seem to take three times as long if you aren't totally prepared.

The "flour blend." White flour, whole wheat flour and wheat germ. And ground up rolled oats.

The "white puree." Frozen in 1/4 c. scoops. Cauliflower and zucchini.

We tried a few things while we were at mom's house, and ALL of the kids gobbled up the food without even a blink, flinch, or whine. And even asked for seconds. We hid carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, wheat germ, rolled oats, whole wheat flour, and blueberries. Which might not sound that odd, but it's what we hid it in that is the unbelievable part; french toast, brownies and spaghetti sauce. Yes you heard me right.

So tonight I worked on making most of the make ahead puree's from the cookbook and made meatloaf. It was SO good. Perfect texture. Kids practically licked their plate. Josh actually did.

Hidden inside the meatloaf was broccoli, spinach, peas, onion, eggs, wheat germ and rolled oats. Also another trick was to make them into meatballs. Also, putting ketchup IN the meatballs/loaf keeps them from turning green from all the veggies.

Then for dessert I made brownies that had spinach, and blueberries hidden in them. GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE....YUMMY.

Everything looks normal right? You'd NEVER know there was yummy food hidden in there.

Our kids aren't super picky eaters, but they are not very adventurous in their choices. So it's really nice to sneak in some new tastes, without it tasting new. Or looking healthy and good for them. If they knew it was good for them, they probably wouldn't eat it. What is that about??

I will definitely be posting more about the recipes I try and how well it's received. For lunch tomorrow we're going to have box mac and cheese with the 'white puree' in it. I'm curious to see if it changes the texture or not.

I am a HUGE fan and believer as of yet.....check out the book for yourself. It's amazing.