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Please share your hidden veggie recipes

12 replies

daydreamingnightowl · 15/04/2023 17:27

My toddler isn't too bad with breakfast and lunch, eating a range of fruits, proteins and carbohydrates, but when it comes to dinner time she will not eat any type of potato (have tried potato cubes, potato wedges, mashed potato in white and sweet potato) and will not touch any veg at all. We did have peas on the ok list but that is gone now too.

She loves pasta and rice and I can get onions, mushrooms and peppers into a tomato sauce but that's where my creativity ends I'm afraid.

She likes salmon and rice so that's one go to dinner and then the tomato veg pasta but otherwise I'm feeling a bit stuck.

If you have any hidden veggie dinner recipes to share, please do!

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WhirlAndCleek · 15/04/2023 18:46

We always pulsed carrots into matchstick head sized pieces and put those in pasta sauce along with the peppers. We added them to mince for cottage pie too. Have you tried sweet potatoes in sauces rather than as potato? Grated courgette can also be good in sauces.
Corn on the cob? We grew it, picked it and then DS ate it. Such a novelty for a DC.

RecklessBlackberries · 15/04/2023 19:30

I'm someone who has to trick themselves into eating veg due to being force fed as a child so I have a few ways I get them into my diet.

Chopped frozen spinach is a really handy one. I add it to any kind of sauce, it's great in a curry. Because it's chopped, you can't pick it out or avoid it. Also works in pies.

When we do thai curry or stir fries, I chop green beans small enough that again it's almost impossible to pick them out. Ditto with bean sprouts (I don't usually chop them up, but you could).

Leeks are also an easy one to get into things. I just chop them until they're tiny like onions.

Cottage pie with carrots and onions in it. You could definitely purée other veg and hide that in too.

Not "hidden" veg, but I've found asparagus is quite inoffensive (going in, at least!). Very easy to cover up with whatever else is on the plate so you don't taste it. And broccoli too, my toddler will eat that if it's chopped small and mixed it with other things.

Xjshdvf · 15/04/2023 19:37

Sorry I know this isn’t what you asked but my toddler is like this and a recent win for us was corn on the cob, something about the novelty of how it’s eaten. Also he’ll often eat carrot sticks while he’s waiting for dinner so then I don’t worry so much about vegetables in his dinner.
We do pitta bread pizza with the tomato sauce with hidden veg in.

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Gratedpotato · 15/04/2023 19:44

I have looked after lots of vegetable dodging children, most have accepted that if they cannot see it or really obviously taste it then they do not mind veg I hide in their food. Small amkunts can be subtle but they add up and are better than nothing.

Blended celery and broccoli and cauliflower in a cheese type pasta sauce. We started with just celery and added the other vegetables gradually. Broccoli will always be visible, and too much will be tasted.

Spinach blended into pancake mix (sounds gross but you cant taste it and it makes them a fun green colour) can do the same with beetroot if your feeling adventurous - I think you can taste it a bit but my kids happily eat 'vampire pancakes'.

I find it very easy to hide veg in all types of curry sauces. Especially onion, celery, carrots because when they are cooked and blended you dont notice them at all. Then stuff like cauliflower, broccoli, extra tomatoes, peppers, are easily covered by spices. Throw a ton of spinach in anything spicy as it tastes of nothing and chopped up it disappears quite well. Then once the sauce is done stir in whatever cooked meat they like.

Things like potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash and parsnips are good to mash and add thickness to sauces or a soup or stew, especially gravy ish type meals. Things like lentils and chickpeas will often really change the texture so are more noticable

I boil or steam a ton of random blandish veg, mash or blend it down, sometimes sorted into colours and then freeze it in ice cube trays- then chuck a few into whatever I am cooking. Garlic or lemon covers most things.

Anything new that I dont blend, I might crush or cut up so fine its not visible in the meal. Things like onion and very finely chopped celery and carrot can be mixed into hamburger meat- especially if they like ketchup its not noticable. Same goes for a chilli or bolognaise, shepards pie, sausage meat if you make patties or sausage rolls or pasties.

Sometimes novel forms helps as an introduction to a new flavour, one girl started liking onion from first having onion rings- learning to like the taste, and now enjoys onion in lots of food. One boy first had sweetcorn when we made corn 'ribs' with bbq sauce but he now eats corn on its own.

Making vegetables taste better with things like butter doesn't take away the benefits of the vegetable. It may be a less healthy dish overall but the vegetables they eat will always be better for them than the vegetables they don't touch- extra stuff doesn't cancel out the minerals. So currently the children I look after will accept actual vegetables like peas (with cheese), carrots (honey glazed), parsnips (roasted in fat) and broccoli (in a cheese sauce) and green beans (on their own).

Maple2023 · 15/04/2023 20:03

Gravy hides a lot of veg! Carrots, onions etc

Will she dip stuff? Thinking either dip veg or make a veg dip for stuff kind of like a salsa

Sweetcorn fritters?

Keep going, I'm really lazy with veg unless it's cooked and placed in front of me Blush so I cook with veg in stuff

daydreamingnightowl · 16/04/2023 19:21

Thank you. Some great ideas here which I'll be trying over the next few weeks.

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Blanketunderstars · 16/04/2023 19:25

I put lentils into minced beef, I will often roast Mediterranean veg and add some to chopped tomato’s and blend completely.

Okunevo · 16/04/2023 19:34

I grate carrot or an alternative into bolognese. I'm given courgettes as everyone has a glut in summer but I don't like the texture so I grate those in when I have them. Beetroot is good grated too. I add frozen peppers to chilli, they are quite small pieces. You can use vegetables when making a curry sauce and blend it.

Imicola · 16/04/2023 19:49

Bolognese is a great way to get veg in... onion, celery, carrot, tomatoes, mushrooms. Chilli con carne also.

Okunevo · 16/04/2023 19:57

Don't worry about the potato, DS never liked the texture, not even keen on chips, but started eating it about a year ago at 15, now happily eats jacket potatoes and mashed potato!

Shinytaps · 16/04/2023 20:16

This is a good recipe www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pasta-tomato-hidden-veg-sauce

LaMadrilena · 16/04/2023 20:24

I know this is more of a variant on what you're already doing, but I finely chop veg and hide them under the cheese on a pizza. Anything goes - broccoli, mushrooms, courgette...

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