Hiding vegetables: How to freeze for easy use

My last post was about hiding vegetables in baked goods. In this one, I'll give some hints about prepping those vegetables so you don't have to get out the food processor every time you cook.

What you'll need: Food processor, knife, whatever vegetables you want (a few that work well: zucchini, carrots, cauliflower and spinach), mini muffin tins.

Wash and peel the vegetables that need it and then chop them into pieces the food processor can handle. I use the S blade for all of them though you could use the shredding blade for the zucchini and carrots- the pieces just won't blend as well into some dishes.

How you mix the vegetables is up to you. I did a batch with zucchini, cauliflower, spinach and carrots and froze it all mixed together. I just did another batch of vegetables but froze them separately because the amounts of the vegetables I had wouldn't have made an even mix. 

Once the vegetables are processed, spoon them into mini muffin tins and press down the freeze. Once frozen, pop them out of the muffin tins and put them in a ziploc bag.

To use the vegetables, I put them in any tomato sauce I'm making for spaghetti, lasagne, pizza or meatball subs; alfredo pastas (this will obvisously change the look but I don't really care about that); turkey gravy over rice; casseroles; macaroni and cheese... really anything! I've added frozen shredded carrot to smoothies before. And, of course, you can add them to baked goods (you'll want to thaw them out first though!)

Hiding vegetables in baked goods

Gideon does not like anything green or orange or vegetable-like. At this age and level of communication, we can't coax, force or reason him into eating them. So, I hide vegetables into the things he will eat. Here is one example, I just made these today and they are pretty yummy!

I started with this recipe and made it my own.

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup flaxseed
1/2 cup almond meal
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 carrots, peeled and chopped fine in a food processor
1 cup spinach, chopped in a food processor

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put liners in the muffin tins.
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. 
Whisk the wet ingredients together in a bowl. Add the carrot and spinach and mix well. Add the wet to dry and mix until just combined.
Bake for 20 minutes. Mini muffins only need 10 minutes.

These came out very yummy though for some reason, are sticking to the muffin papers. Not sure how to get around that. Next time I'll probably just do them in a loaf pan and line it with parchment paper. You really can't tell there are vegetables in them and Gideon gobbled them up.

These Carrot Apple Muffins were posted a couple years ago on my blog and they are another tasty way to get some fruit and veggies in too. And, of course, there is always zucchini bread and banana bread. I try to replace some of the flour with oat flour or whole wheat flour too. And add in nuts. Replace oil with applesauce. It makes me feel a little better about Gideon eating a slice or two every morning for breakfast.

Food, glorious food (for baby!)

Gideon is still nursing quite a bit. He loves his nursing time and I think if I let him, he would nurse all day sometimes.

But, he's also eating solids now! He was such a slow starter. I wanted to do baby led weaning, but he didn't take to it. So, we tried purees and he thought we were trying to poison him. So, we waited a few months and he started letting us feed him applesauce and Greek yogurt. He would also eat animal crackers and Ritz crackers.

After months of surviving off breast milk, crackers, and applesauce, he's FINALLY eating other foods!



From the top: Yesterday morning I'd made a puff pancake with apple slices in it. When I gave him a piece, he ran into the kitchen, put it in one of the pots and grabbed the popsicle stick. He loved stabbing it and taking a bite. Next is him with his favorite drink- very watered down, not very sweetened green tea. Then a pear slice that he's trying to stab with the fork. And the last picture was from yesterday when he ate rice and teriyaki chicken.

Today he ate a taquito sample at Costco! And, then, when we got home I was putting away our purchases and refilling some of our noodles and oatmeal containers. Gideon climbed up onto a chair next to the counter and when I spilled some of the raw oatmeal, he started snacking on it. He probably ate a tablespoon or two of raw oatmeal! So funny.

We found that giving him a plate with his own fork makes him eat more. He LOVES to stab things with the fork and eat it. That's the only way I got him to even try the chicken. He wouldn't touch it with his fingers.