I need help hiding veg in spag bol, pls

[littleducks]

I am about to start making spaghetti bol for kids tomorrow, i have celery/carrots/courgette/tinned tomatoes for extra veg, i was going to grate them......do they need frying to soften with onions? Also i have marmite/lea and perrins/veg stock what is the best for flavour? I usually just use basil and garlic but need to hide veg taste. (NO wine allowed)

Should i stick it in slowcooker, would that make it better or worse?

I usually grate carrots and courgettes with the fairly fine side of a grater and fry them off with the onions. Then add the meat and fry, then tom puree (tastes better if you fry this off a little too before adding liquid) seasoning, stock and tinned toms.

I think any of those for flavour would be nice. I always use L&P for shepherd's pie, also stock and tom puree.

I stick everything in a wee food processor (you know hte kind that fits on the end of a hand blender?) and it comes out about mince texture. Then I stick it all in a pot with the mince which I've already browned, some extra tomato puree and some lea and perrins. Oh and plenty of oregano. I don't have a slow cooker, but I do simmer it for quite a long time.
Bizarrely, I also chuck in a handful of sultanas which kind of rounds out the flavour - the kids love playing "find the sultana". Think it works the same as the half-spoon of sugar you put in tomato sauce for pizza - just takes the edge off any wershness.

You can also chuck in some red lentils, and try adding a pinch of chilli powder and a good load of paprika to give it a nice deep veg-hiding flavour.

If you really need to disguise the veg, chop it, fry it with the onions to soften, then blender with some water or juice from the tinned tomatoes before adding to the meat. If you slow cooker it the meat and veg sort of caramelise more, so it is a bit sweeter and more flavoursome.

Add some veg stock and L&P for flavour, also tomato puree makes it thicker and gives a stronger flavour.

I've got a great book called Deceptively Delicious which has dozens of recipes for kids and family meals, snacks, soups and cakes. Each recipe has one or two portions of things like pureed carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet potato etc included and is perfect for sneaking veg into my fussy children.