Teach us to eat healthy - Hiding veggies in foods.

KatieCutie05

I could use some tips on how to sneak veggies in meals so you can't even taste them.

Think like cooking for a picky toddler - but for a 28 year old man who hates veggies. Oh yea and his wife (yea we're bad i know). We WANT to be better but I don't know how! Even growing up the most i'd eat is corn. We take vitamins and just started taking an Omega 3 supplement as well but for the most part we eat like crap. Snacks- ice cream, cookies, potato chips.... Meals are mostly meat or starches. We call ourselves "meat-a-tarians" because we are the opposite of a vegetarian.

I look up healthy meals all the time and healthy versions of meals usually either don't taste good or i just don't know how to cook them. Actually most healthy meals he just plain won't eat. Chances are if its "green" - its not on his plate. He looks at salad and has a joke "what is this green stuff". I'll mix in cut up broccoli every once in a great while but thats the extent of our vegetable intake.

My husband eats way too many high fat foods and added sugars.... I'm worried about his health - his dad has diabetes and his grandfather died young from heart disease. We are about to sign up for life insurance and i'm terrified the rate he'll get. We NEED to fix this -  but I'm so confused as to how to even do this. Its not like i'm a health food nut trying to convert him - i'm just as bad. I am so lost Help us stop killing ourselves please Most healthy recipes (or recipes in general) look gross to us. We eat a lot of chicken and beef or pastas. I did get him to convert to whole grain pasta and brown rice and diet soda a few years ago but thats the extent of it.

Any ideas are welcome. Can i just get like baby food veggie jars and mix that in? i don't know i'm lost...

BlueBirdMB

Please don't get baby food!  Yucky!!!

My friends complain about their husbands not eating vegetables.  Personally, I don't get that.  It's totally opposite of us.  

My mother has an amazing marinara sauce that has a million vegetables in it, but you don't taste any of them.  I know there are a bunch of red sauces like that.  I'd look into that.

How about an eggplant parm?  It tastes like a chicken parm, but without the chicken.  I have this good grilled version that's cool: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/grilled-eggplant-parmesan-grace-parisi

Here's a great chicken sandwich that hides the veggies in a pesto: http://fabtasticeats.com/2013/07/11/chicken-sun-dried-tomato-asparagus-pesto-sandwich/

Healthy version of a Chinese orange chicken: http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/you-can-do-it/500-calorie-dinner-recipes/?page=2

Great chicken salad that has some veggies: http://www.marthastewart.com/343868/roasted-chicken-salad?center=856055&gallery=349851&slide=261401

My favorite way to eat string beans: http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/clean-eating-garlic-green-beans-shallots/

Do you all do beans or mushrooms?  What about salads?  We have a side salad probably 5 times a week as our vegetable.  

bpphoto785

H is okay with veggies, but I try to work them into dishes to compensate for his unhealthy eating habits at work! 

Pasta dishes are a great place to work them in without them being obvious. Same with most Mexican dishes. Meat dishes like hamburgers or meatloaf are good at hiding veggies as well. Finely grated/minced zucchini, carrots and/or mushrooms work really well. 

It can sneak into your sides too. You can also add pureed squash into macaroni and cheese or add mashed cauliflower to your mashed potatoes. 

You could even try topping veggies on the side with cheese sauce. That's what my Mom did with my brother who's a picky eater. She used a WW recipe w/ low fat milk and cheese, so it didn't completely negate the benefits of the veggies. I'm sure you could find it online. 

If he likes soup, you can add a ton of veggies to chili or puree them into broth. 

I also love this recipe for cauliflower alfredo sauce. You'd never know it's cauliflower. BTW, I also never tell my H I've done these things until AFTER he's eaten and I ask him what he thinks. He's far more receptive that way. 

KatieCutie05

He doesn't eat salad at all and he hates mushrooms.

 He is okay with some beans (i think he just doesn't like big pieces) he has been wanting me to make  him beanless chilli - but i bet if they were small pieces he wouldn't care. What veggies would you hide in chilli?

Cauliflower in mashed potatoes - thats interesting. He loves my mashed potatoes.

And I like the idea of cauliflower alfredo sauce. I will have to try that.

He's working on saturday so maybe i'll blend up a munch of veggies and put them in the freezer in individual containers so they are ready to go.

And i know what you mean about telling him after - although in some cases ive learned to just keep my mouth shut altogether. The idea of it scares him. And if he knows its in there he'll pay more attention to the taste and be able to tell.

bpphoto785

In chili you could add bell peppers, jalapenos (or other spicy peppers), celery, carrots, onion, tomatoes, corn, zucchini, squash, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, kale. I wouldn't add all of these, but you can play around with what the two of you might like. 

I could also try things like chicken breast stuffed with broccoli and cheese. 

Does he like apples? H will eat applesauce as a side if we're having sandwiches or something similar. 

You could also try making kale or sweet potato chips in the oven instead of snacking on regular potato chips. 

ChristyDM82

I have a recipe for a meat sauce that has veggies in it that is really good: meat and veggie sauce.

Otherwise I don't have much to add that hasn't already been suggested.  Good luck! 

J9lawrence

My husband isn't a big fruit or veggie eater either.  I have started making smoothies for us both for breakfast.  They taste great and usually add up to a couple servings of fruit in each cup.

It can be hard to change your eating habits, so don't try and do everything at once.  Start with smaller steps like eating a side salad with your dinner instead of just eating a salad.  Also, try cooking together!  Jamie Oliver has some great cookbooks.  It can be fun to learn at the same time.  My husband and I have the best conversations making dinner together with a glass of wine. 

BlueBirdMB

J9lawrence said:

My husband isn't a big fruit or veggie eater either.  I have started making smoothies for us both for breakfast.  They taste great and usually add up to a couple servings of fruit in each cup.

It can be hard to change your eating habits, so don't try and do everything at once.  Start with smaller steps like eating a side salad with your dinner instead of just eating a salad.  Also, try cooking together!  Jamie Oliver has some great cookbooks.  It can be fun to learn at the same time.  My husband and I have the best conversations making dinner together with a glass of wine. 

This is my favorite

MelodyRN

Growing up my mother used to saute breadcrumb with butter and sprinkle that over the vegetables of the night. My siblings and I wouldn't even notice sometimes what the vegetables were because we loved the topping!

gymbugmj2k

Hubby came from a non-veggie eating family, and mine is so pro-veggie!  It would have been a (literal) recipe for disaster, but hubby has been quite venturous with at least trying a lot of things.  I 100% believe that most people don't like veggies because they haven't had them cooked correctly. For example, I HATED brussel sprouts until I had them at a fine dining restaurant -- throw some garlic and lemon in there and whatever else and they were delicious!

That being said, here's a few of my tips/tricks for adding veggies into meals:

-- My 'go to' is to sautee broccoli on the stove on medium-high with a bit of olive oil, garlic (i usually buy jars of fresh, minced garlic).  about 3/4 of the way through, I pour a bit of lemon juice in there, and quit cooking as soon as they start to brown/char. 

-- I 'hide' veggies in pasta all the time!  Typically peas, broccoli, green peppers, onions, etc.  The key is to dice them into small pieces (the size of your fingernail), and toss them in the pasta water about 3-4 minutes before it's done.  this way, they aren't totally mushy, but not crunchy either!  I do the same with rice (adding cheese to the veggies & rice works too!)

-- chili:  add in some diced onion and green pepper.

-- sweet potato fries! with a honey/butter dipping sauce, or siracha/mayo dipping sauce....yum!

-- pita pocket sandwiches.  cook some chicken (with greek spices!), and fill a pita with the chicken, lettuce, tomato, feta cheese and onion.  add some greek or italian dressing and chow down! again, if you chop things a bit smaller, it might be less offensive and feel more like a sandwich, and less like a salad

-- spaghetti squash might be something to try.  after baking, you can 'string' it so it looks like pasta!

-- you could hide some spinach in something like lasagna... just chop it very fine and hide it in the layers!  There's so much cheese and sauce he shouldn't care

-- be creative!  use a terayaki sauce, or honey mustard, or lemon/garlic.... something!  plain, boiled, baked or sauteed veggies are boring.  learn to use your spice drawer and experiment a bit!

Good luck!

cloudymeatballs12

I think you could throw lots of things in almost anything. Just chop them up pretty small. My H hates squash but he eats a TON of it! Lol spinach, chop it up, it shrinks down to almost nothing and he would never even know. When making meatballs, I add in chopped peppers, lil spinach, onions. My H loves it all and he is NOT a veggie fan one bit. Just start slow and start with sauces, whether it be in a pasta, rice or just over chicken. I use a ton of veggies when I usually cook and they blend well with everything.


Try not to cook with butter, use olive oil in place.

VadersValkyrie

Both H and I eat veggies, but I'm all about making things that I like with more veggies.  I frequently add veggies to pasta, also mac & cheese.  Recently, I've started throwing coleslaw veggie mixes in the crock pot with a jar of sauce on low for four hours or so (found the recipe on Pinterest if you're over there).  It's JUST like spaghetti, only all veggies.  The recipe calls for ground turkey, but I put in chicken sausages.

Llikotdesserd

My favorite is mixing it in with meatballs, in fact I did it tonite! Cut up bell pepper super tiny and put it right in the meat mixture. In fact, cut up any vegetable small enough it can be mixed into practically anything, especially a meat sauce.