Do you have any "cheats" for cooking?!
It does not affect the taste except for sweetening it and it is an easy way to add veggies to my kids diets.
Do you have any tricks like this that you will share?
Answers: When I make spaghetti, I often add cooked carrots to the sauce. I cut them up into very small pieces before I add them.
It does not affect the taste except for sweetening it and it is an easy way to add veggies to my kids diets.
Do you have any tricks like this that you will share?
Shredded carrots also make a nice filler in salmon patties and corn fritters.
I love spinach meatballs. There are a lot of recipes on line for them. My kids never knew the spinach was in their meatballs until they were grown.
I made my kids a lot of frozen yogurt pops in the summer. I'd sneak in everything: peach puree, shredded apple, orange juice, crushed pineapple...anything I could of.
My kids loved to snack on apple slices or celery with peanut butter.
I add celery to my chili. For the added veggies.
Also replace the oil in cake recipes with applesauce. Someone told me it was healthier and you can't taste the difference.
I add wheat bran to nearly all baked items to increase fiber for the family. I put about ? cup or a little more in place of an equal amoutn of flour. I do this for muffins, pancakes, waffles, meatloaf, meatballs, cookies, brownies, you name it!
I will make smoothies as dessert. I buy frozen fruit (freeze my own bananas when riper than we like) and get tons of fruit and fiber down my family. I serve w/ straws b/c I think they drink more that way.
-When cooking ground beef for tacos or mexican food filling I add quick cooking oatmeal (about 1/4 cup per pound and a half of meat)...it helps absorb the grease and extends the meat to feed even more people..*
-I add cooked tiny salad shrimp to my potato salad to make it fancier and more tasty*
-I use already made pudding for my cream puffs,even the individual serving size ones I pack in the kids' lunches..*=)
my MIL adds a shredded potato to her taco meat, to stretch it out and it makes a nice texture and flavor, I didnt even know it was there until she told me ...
This is one thing I add to almost everything, including ketchup.
I sautee up onions, peppers, carrots, and musrooms celery all finely diced in a little olive oil in a non stick pan. I cover the pan to keep in the steam. Let the veggies soft. I put them in a food processor with about half a can of diced tomatoes and let it whiz until smoothe. It looks really gross, a funny color, but you can add it to anything. I spread it on English muffins before I add tomato sauce for mini pizzas. I mix it in ketchup for FF. I add it to store bought sauce. Mix it in hamburger, which makes them really good and juicy, as well as spread it on the bun. Under the ketchup of course. I even add it to store bought veggie dip to serve with celery. Generally I can get about 1/2 c. of this mix in her a day without her knowing. With the other veggies I think she's getting a full day's serving.
It stays well in the fridge, but it will spoil anything you mix it in quicker for some reason, especially if there's dairy involved. Use as needed.
Whenever I make something that calls for a whole pound of ground beef, if I ask my hubby if I should use the whole pound, he always says YES! So I quit asking him. Instead I started packaging the ground beef up in 12 oz. packages. So it *looks* like I'm using a pound, but I'm not. Then I add more veggies. He's never noticed. I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just doing it for his health and mine.
He also claims that he hates lite cream cheese (neufchatel). I put that in my garlic cream cheese mashed potatoes and same thing, he doesn't notice. And with other stuff, I buy reduced sodium and then add more spices and herbs.
I love him to bits and would like to keep him around, if you know what I mean! :)
My son is 6- he likes the Campbell’s chicken & broccoli alfredo- super simple to make (recipe is at their website), yummy, and he’ll eat all the broccoli. He never fusses about stews- he’ll eat the veggies in there. Sometimes, I’ll use the stick blender for stews- take out a large bowlful and blend all that. He really doesn’t think he’s eating as much veggies and it really adds to the flavor of the liquid. Add peas and carrots to rice. Add peas to mac & cheese and mashed potatoes. Add spinach to pasta dishes, lasagna. Another thing he likes and I just call it cream soup- cauliflower soup- all the cauliflower is blended so you don’t see it. Prevention.com has a recipe- super easy.