Can anyone recommend some concealed vegetable favourites please?

[ImpYCelynAndTheIvy]

DS (14m) has been ill for several weeks with one thing after another, and is seriously off his food. Coupled with me having been really ill since I was 5 weeks pregnant (now 23 weeks) and having been a bit slacker about creatively cooking for us.

My mum has been helping out, but has been giving him whatever he will eat, so lots of biscuits, rusks, fruit purée and occasional cakes.

I can occasionally get cheese and cereal down him, and sometimes toast with peanut butter or humous, but he won't have any fruit or veg at all any more. I keep putting it on his plate, but it just goes overboard.

So can anyone recommend things I can disguise it in please? I do grate stuff into bolognese etc, but I was thinking along the lines of vaguely healthy muffins or scotch pancakes.

Thanks so much!

My DCs will eat any kind of soup so I make lots of veg soups. Put carrots and parsnips in for a sweet flavour. Or smoothies for fruit?

Make a thick batter with egg, sr flour, milk and a bit of baking powder and then hide whatever veg you like in there. Mine are particularly fond of sweetcorn and grated carrot.

He's been refusing smoothies - made with his favourite fruits no less.

Soup is hit and miss, so I cram it with veg for the days he will have it. Good point about parsnips though, I've been relying on carrots for the sweetness, I'll try some instead/as well as.

Sccotergrrrl - do they come out like fritters? That sounds like a great idea, thanks!

Thanks both of you

what about root veg mash - potatoes, turnips, carrots, swede, parsnips

If you make your own meatballs or burgers then puree carrots, courgettes etc and use them as the binder instead of an egg.

Sadly he doesn't like mash

Meatballs/burgers is a good idea, thanks!

I make burgers using grated onion, carrot and parsnip the I microwave for about 5 mins then mix with turkey mince, a bit if tomato purée, herbs or a hint of curry powder and breadcrumbs then oven bake them. Also use cooked grated onion, grated apple with juice squeezed out & chopped dried apricots with sage and turkey combo.

I make scotch pancakes with v little sugar and any combination of mashed banana, grated apple and blueberries in instead.

Tomato sauce (onion, carrot, celery. sweet peppers) with pasta - perfect comfort food, nice and easy to eat. Any chance he'd like that?

d'oh, have just realised you wanted veg ideas.
i have done cheese and tomato scones and carrot and courgette muffins.

No, fruit is good, he's refusing fruit as well. But all of those sound good.

Beamur - I put veg in when I do bolognese, but I should just do tomato and veg sauce as well, then I could do it more often.

Carrot/banana cake, banana/carrot/courguette muffins, chocolate cake/muffins/brownies (can hide beetroot and courguette in this), lasagne, pasta sauce (pureed with veg in it, you can also use this sauce to make mini pizzas with pitta bread base), cheese sauce (add cooked broccoli head broken up or cauliflower), grate root veg into sauce for meat stew (my DD loves lamb neck stew), breads with pumpkin/carrot/banana etc..., make fruit juice ice lollies, any fruit puree stirred into pancake batter, root vegetable chips/crisps.

Variation on the pasta sauce - my son will only eat one of the constituent vegetables on its own, but laps up this sauce, a simplified Jamie Oliver one that i've posted here before. Give it a try.

Peel and chop 1 butternut squash, 3 carrots and 1 onion. Heat a generous pour of oil in a large pan. Add these vegetables and cook over a gentle heat, stirring regularly, while you chop 2 red peppers and 1 large courgette. Add them to the pan. Allow all veg to cook gently for another 10 mins. Turn up the heat, add six cans of tomatoes and stir well. Bring to the boil, turn down and simmer for a minimum of 30 minutes. Use a blender or food processor (or a potato masher) to break down the veg. Serve with pasta and maybe cheese.

I do a pasta recipe as well. I grate carrot, onion and celery and fry with garlic. I brown mince and add passata or chopped tomatoes. I mix oregano, sugar, marigold vegetable stock, pepper and puréed tomatoes to taste and cook for ages. I have this with spaghetti on the day I make it.

I make loads and freeze. For different meals I add kidney beans, chilli and green pepper or cook with sliced potatoes on top.

Since Halloween I have discovered pureed pumpkin can be hidden in anything....macaroni cheese, smoothies, pizza/pasta sauce, gravy, pancakes, etc. Even dh has not notice

Thanks so much everyone! Love the idea that I might be able to sneak some veg past dh as well

I'm going to make a list and get batch cooking. Fingers crossed!

I do a pasta recipe too....its like a veggie pesto and a brilliant meal standby

Fry garlic and onion, add chopped peppers, courgette, mushrooms and cook till soft. Add chopped tomatoes and Italian seasoning and cook down. Then blend to purée consistency and stir in a few spoonfuls of Philly until the sauce is orange rather than red. Then I freeze in ice cube trays and remove from tray and keep the cubes in a bag in the freezer.

I use 3-4 cubes per serving for DD and cook them directly from frozen and stir into cooked pasta - sorry there's no exact measurements, I tend to do it when using stuff up but it's a very forgiving and versatile recipe

Totally recommend Annabel Karmel's spaghetti bolognese recipe. I didn't make it until about a year ago when my youngest (and fussy) DD was 4, wish I'd bothered sooner. We have had numerous children to tea since (including extremely fussy eaters) and the plates are always cleaned. I would definitely put the mince back into the food processor though, as the fine consistency is part of the winning formula. Link for you www.annabelkarmel.com/recipes/family/spaghetti-bolognese-hidden-vegetables

I make macaroni cheese by first cooking slowly in butter, onion,garlic, carrot, peppers and a bit of bacon. Chop fine and grate carrot and cook down to mush, then add flour and make a cheese sauce as normal. Steady hand with the carrots or it gets a bit orange! Tasty though