hidden vegetable ideas?

[katherine76]

My DS has started refusing to eat vegetables, he's 16 months, and I feel like I'm spending loads of time making hidden vegetable sauce for pasta, as it's the only way I can make sure he's getting some veggies in his diet.

Does anyone have any other ideas for hiding vegetables that doesn't involve pasta?! And are there any decent hidden vegetable sauces available in the shops? I haven't been able to find anything in my local supermarkets.

Thanks!

Make soup !!! used to do this a lot when my dd was smaller and went through a phase of not eating veg - all sorts of recipes available and just put in the liquidiser - easy to freeze small portions as well.

Also used to blend mushrooms etc into spag bol, as she would pick these out if they were in there sliced etc.

Another way of getting veg in is to cut carrots etc into little bite size pieces and let him eat raw - dipped into a little blob of mayo or ketchup, for some reason my dd did not associate this as the same as "dinner time" veg !

Have fun !

You can shove loads in shepherd's pie as well - and you could try things like "special orange mash" (made of sweet potatoes), the novelty value might do the trick! Or how about veg on homemade pizzas? Will be checking back for other suggestions as I have the same prob with nearly 3-year-old DS!

Stews and casseroles are easy to hide things in too. Root vegetables will go soft and break down if cooked long enough, and things like dried apricots are lovely in them and disolve to nothing in the sauce. Frozen spinach dissapears too.

In fact anything with "sauce" can take this so curries too.

Does he eat mashed potato? You can mash vegetables into that too, like carrot, although they can be a bit more visible.

If you make your own burgers or meatballs, puree veg and use it as the binder rather than an egg. I have used carrots, courgettes, spinach, peas etc and it seems to work.

I used to add fruit to veg to get DS to eat it. So he would eat apple carrot and parsnip mash because it was sweet. Also tomato and basil soup with carrot and lentils hidden inside. Cous cous makes a good alternative to pasta. DS loves ratatouille too, it's a PITA to make so I make a big batch and freeze it. Oh and he will eat ANYTHING that is covered in pesto, even broccoli might be worth a shot? Peas and sweetcorn are a big hit too.

Thanks for all the ideas. I'm feeling more inspired now!

If you blend veg into tomato purée you can make your own pizza - my DCs ate loads of veg like this! If it's raw and chopped ready they would be quite happy to 'make their own' individual pizzas and did not think of it as veg.

Ds went off most food except bread at that age. I make carrot muffins with almost no sugar. Courgettes can also be grated into muffins or cake. Tomato puree is ok in omelettes.

you can makes vegetable purees and freeze them in ice cube trays, such as carrot, parsnip, butternut squash and then add them to any liquid, sauce, soup, curry, gravy. You could also add some vegetable juices into your fruit juice, carrot and beetroot are both sweet and easy to hide in apple juice.

I do not have to hide it for DS who loves veg but my sister does and she usually makes veg terrines : basically 3 different veg purees, gelified and poured in a cake pan each after the other, so that 1) it looks like a cake 2) each veg makes a different color stripe, which the DC love.
I make it too, with broccoli, cauliflower and carrot (here is an idea for St Patrick's day!), spinach/turnips/carrot or red peppers/zucchini/eggplant. You can add a little parmesan/cream/spice to the purees and serve with yogurt sauce (yogurt, red onion, chives).

I agree, you can also hide them in smoothies/fresh juice (beetroot or tomatoes in a strawberry smoothie/milk shake).

Cauliflower puree works also usually very well if you add a little cream.

Oh and you probably can sneak some carrots in an orange/banana smoothie, it should work.

The blender is your friend - soups, pasta sauces, Green smoothies (just whizz up extra spinach or lettuce into a fruit based smoothie) or something like these veggie enchiladas can be nice as a change from plain ol' pasta bit.ly/MXOtIz too.

The book 'The Great Big Veg Challenge' is great for ideas too - I think grown ups can get a bit samey with serving up "boring" carrots and peas etc. My little boy loves choosing his own veg and fruit when we go to the shops because he gets to try funny-looking food and have some control over what veg he eats.

Love the idea of necklace too Elizabeth22! I might try that one :)

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deceptively-Delicious-Sneaky-Secrets-Eating/dp/0061251348www.amazon.co.uk/Deceptively-Delicious-Sneaky-Secrets-Eating/dp/0061251348?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-food-and-recipes-1521955-hidden-vegetable-ideas" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> book has loads of hidden veg etcc

Savoury muffins work here.