I am always on the lookout for tips for making healthier foods for my family, especially the children, since kids don't always say, "Yum, broccoli with no cheese - can I have a third helping?" My girls are not picky, but they don't always just eat veggies straight either. If anyone else wants to join in, post tips in the comments each time I do a "Food Tips Friday" post, or do a post of your own on your blog and put the link in the comments. I love finding new tips!
So, the first tip from me:
Making macaroni and cheese healthier - this can be with a boxed macaroni or with homemade macaroni and cheese. I use the Annie's natural/organic boxed mac n cheese, but sometimes I can't find the whole wheat variety or the white pasta kind is on a great sale (like $1 a box!)... so I came up with this idea to make it more nutritious: steam some carrots and spinach separately, puree, freeze in ice cube trays, and then thaw a few cubes to stir in when mixing the noodles and sauce. I use two or three carrot cubes with one spinach cube. The other night, I made homemade mac n cheese and put a little more than a half cup of carrot puree in it, and it tasted great and definitely not strongly carrot-like. My kids ate it up. I have also added chopped sauteed leeks to mac n cheese and my kids eat it too, although not quite as much... it does change the taste and texture a bit more. The cookbook Deceptively Delicious has recipes for adding pureed cauliflower and butternut squash to mac n cheese, but Caroline will not eat these at all.
I do tell my kids what is in the recipes... I think that if they know at a young age, before they develop opinions of what they absolutely will not eat, then why "deceive" them about it? With older kids, maybe tell them after they eat it and like it a time or two... then they should still eat it because they know it taste good despite having a veggie in it! I have done this with my picky "baby" brother. ;)
What GREAT tips!
ReplyDeleteMy kids love my broccoli! I steam it on the stove (not in the microwave- that seems to make it tougher) and then add some salt and about 2 tbsp. of butter. I keep thinking that I need to get a bigger pot so I can make more at a time!
ReplyDeleteAwesome tips! I really want to get a copy of that deceptively delicious cookbook, I have read several references to it off and on.
ReplyDeleteI usually just cook peas or something to mix in whole in the mac n cheese, but Noah always balks at it.
The only thing I have ever really felt super proud of is the fact that I did puree veggies into pizza sauce and then added some good veggies covered with lots of cheese to the top...
Carrie, I wouldn't spend the money on Deceptively Delicious, honestly... at least teo of the recipes I have tried from it just did not work at all, and many of the others are simple, like adding pureed squash to the cheese in a quesadilla or grilled cheese sandwich. The one that absolutely was a flop was the spaghetti pie.. it just never baked right and was so soupy. I have heard better things about The Sneaky Chef, but I haven't tried that book myself.
ReplyDeleteI have older kids, so I've been doing the "sneaking" thing for years! Another good veggie to "hide" in stuff is zuchinni. If you shred it raw and put in in sauces,etc., it will just disappear in there as it cooks. Really good thing to add to spaghetti sauce, when making lasagna, etc. Another great trick, which I just learned from another Mom, is to make fruit smoothies, and before you blend it, throw in a big handful of raw spinach - it grinds up in there and totally disappears - not even any green flecks, and you can't taste it at all. I do this with berry smoothies. Finally - another great suggestion for cooking broccoli - my kids are now broccoli fans, and they never would eat it before. Roasted broccoli - buy fresh broccoli (I buy the bagged, already cut up, kind). Toss with EVOO and spread on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper (I use kosher salt) and roast in a 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes. When halfway done, gave the pan a shake to make sure the broccoli doesn't stick. It caramelizes the bottom of the broccoli and gives it a really nice, nutty, toasty flavor.
ReplyDelete