Eat your veggies!

Awhile ago, I was approached by Green Giant to try out a new product they are releasing called Veggie Blends, and of course, I said yes.  With a daughter who rarely eats vegetables unless they come in the form of veggie chips, I look for any means to sneak them into her food.  Essentially, they are pureed vegetables you add into whatever you want.  I got a package just like this in the mail one day and was completely stoked:

 

 

Image courtesy of couponcrazygirl.com

 

First off, this is crazy nice of them because the box did not only contain three boxes of the veggie blends but also came in a really nice Tupperware container, with a wooden spoon, and a stack of recipes.  The three veggies I got were spinach, butternut squash and carrots.  So I got to work.

 

 

The first recipe was with meatloaf.  I added the carrot puree to my meatloaf mix, and honestly, you could not taste it at all.  You got veggies and had no idea they were there.  However, the meatloaf was not the best because that extra liquid needed to be combined with more breadcrumbs or something to hold it together because it fell apart as soon as I cut it.  But it was delicious, so that's all that matters!

 

 

I had huge success with my second recipe.  I made pancakes one morning for the three of us, mixing in the squash, adding a touch of cinnamon and vanilla.  They were awesome.  Even Aubrey ate them, which is saying something because she is a clever girl.  I've tried the sneaking vegetables in with her quesadillas and muffins before, and she picks them out.  But she ate these things right up, and T and I enjoyed them as well.  Score one for mom!

 

 

My last recipe was the spinach, and I'm still on the fence.  I made myself a strawberry smoothie, adding frozen strawberries, Silk, Greek strawberry yogurt, oatmeal and some of the pureed spinach and blended them all together.  You couldn't really taste the spinach too much, but there still was some hint of it.  I think next time I would add less spinach or maybe more fruit with the same amount of spinach, but I felt pretty darn proud of myself that I ate so healthy because spinach is one of those super foods that is really good for you. 

 

 

Overall, I really like these products.  They are just testing them out in certain markets, and if you are interested to see if they are sold in your area you can go here.  If you have picky eaters or just want to find a way to get extra vegetables into your diet, I'd recommend them. 

 

 

I need to come up with some other sneaky ways to get Aubrey to eat these...perhaps adding one of them to spaghetti sauce?  Making carrot muffins?  The possibilities are endless!