Help "hiding" veggies in meals

amywalt1684 · August 2012

Ok I need a little help here...

I typically prepare my meals ahead of time and freeze for the coming weeks. I do a lot of casseroles in the colder in months and I really want to start incorporating more veggies in each dish. Can you guys make some suggestions?

For example I put together a pesto tortellini bake thing. I use pre-made/prepared tortellini from the store, I mix them with lots of pesto and something like sour cream or ricotta cheese, top the bake with mozerella cheese and freeze. When I cook it, I pull it from the freezer and put in the oven covered in foil.

So maybe I could put diced carrots or shredded squash? But here is my other question and maybe a dumb one... do you pre-cook the vegtables or would they cook okay in the oven with the rest of the casserole?

Thanks!

eesome · August 2012

I would put raw veggies in the casserole and cook. You already remove tons of nutrients when you overcook veggies, so the less cooking, the better.
You can try the following to sneak in veggies:

- Puree broccoli and mix in with mac n cheese.
- Add tiny bits of carrot to chicken noodles
- Zucchini bread
- Shredded squash or carrots in scrambled eggs
- Try thinly sliced cucumbers with veggie dip. (most babies will eat this)
- Make a ham and cheese panini with thinly diced veggies melted into the cheese

HTH!

BabyQuizzle · August 2012

Add frosen spinach to the top of the casserole when you pull it out f the freezer for the pesto one. Then as it cooks, mix it in and you will never notice the spinach because of the pesto. I also put fresh raw spinach into mashed potatoes and mac and cheese. Just stir it in while the dish is still hot so it wilts down and cooks a bit without losing the nutrients.

melissa0726 · August 2012

Great thread topic, I always love new meal ideas! Eesome, love the broccoli in the mac n cheese, I'll definitely be trying that next week.

I second BabyQuizzle on the spinach. I put frozen chopped spinach it in any casserole that is pasta and cheese based (white cheese like alfredo/mozzarella) and it's a huge hit. I do steam it first and then drain the water, I've never tried to bake it straight from frozen.

I've been adding diced green peppers into DD's scrambled eggs and she LOVES it. Great way to sneak her veggies!

For casseroles, I think adding mild flavored veggies like zucchini or summer squash would work because they won't have a huge impact on the overall flavor of the casserole. I would not cook them first, they will cook as the casserole bakes. Do you have any make and freeze recipes to share? I have recently started trying to meal plan and am looking to start stocking my freezer with casseroles

Rachey1082 · August 2012

I add peas to tons of casseroles that I make. My boys love peas and they're easy. But, to the pesto casserole, I would add spinach because you wouldn't see it as easily. If you add fresh spinach, take in mind that it will add water to your casserole as you cook it. When the spinach wilts the water releases out of the leaves. You may want to add less liquids to the dish. I've added spinach to many italian style casseroles such as a ravioli bake or lasagna.

As OP have said carrots are easy to hide and so is squash.

I hide cauliflower in stuff all the time too. I've put it in mashed potatoes and used it as a supplement for potatoes in casseroles and soups.

Leinistar · August 2012

I use quesadilla's for quick meals. I usually put leftovers into them for lunch and DS will eat anything if I put it in a quesadilla.

Roselis · August 2012

Broccoli in mac n cheese (It's how I got XH to eat veggies..... Broccoli, chicken, and mac n cheese was a common dinner)

Spinach in casseroles and pastas. Really yummy in spaghetti.

Carrots and broccoli make great additions to most casseroles. Green beans too

Zucchini bread

Monsieur_et_Madame_Ha · August 2012

I agree that you don't need to cook the veggies before adding them to the casserole.

Have you thought about doing meat loaf? I always throw in a ton of veggies in mine... and still serve a side of vegetables with it, and the hubs is none the wiser

Otherwise, pureed veggies are easy to add to a lot of recipes.