covert kitchen ops

It's no secret that Paul despises fruits and veggies. Besides the occasional teaspoon of green beans or corn, his diet consists only of meat and mashed potatoes. Well, thanks to my precious friend Emily McG. and her gift of a little book by Jessica Seinfeld (yes, she's Jerry's wife) called Deceptively Delicious, his picky eating habits are about to change, albeit through some covert measures on my part.

When I opened the package, Emily had added a little sticky note to the the cookbook's subtitle: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids [or husband!] Eating Good Food.

I was beyond excited and immediately began reading it. It is chock full of easy-t0-understand nutrition info about various fruits & veggies [did you know that Cauliflower is a great source of vitamin C and may help our bodies fight certain cancers?] which further convinced me that I should at least try my luck with this loving deceitfulness :)

So after making a grocery list that would all but clean out Kroger's produce section, I headed to the store early Saturday morning. I returned with 11 different fruits and veggies--Paul's expression as he helped me unload the car was priceless. Then I spent the rest of the day making great friends with my blender.

the Method:
1) steam vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, & cauliflower. roast things such as sweet potatoes and butternut squash. simply wash and peel (if you want) the fruit.

2) use a food processor or blender to puree everything. sometimes i added a few teaspoons of water to get a smooth texture.

3) portion the purees into freezer bags and freeze so you can just

pull them out as needed for recipes.

By Saturday afternoon, I had pureed & frozen: carrots, avocados, broccoli, butternut squash, cauliflower, spinach, sweet potatoes, apples, bananas, & blueberries.

Let the delicious [healthy!] deception begin!

the Result:

Paul says, "Tastes like tacos to me!"

For lunch I used one of the recipes to make tacos--just add a can of crushed tomatoes and 1/2 C carrot puree to the meat and seasoning and voila! tasty and nutritious tacos that Paul had to admit were yummy.

I hope this success will continue! We shall see...Chili with some secret ingredient is next.