This is a great idea from Jerry Seinfeld’s wife Jessica. She was on Oprah yesterday describing how she finally got her three kids to eat their veggies. She matches the color of the veggie to the food she’s preparing, then purees it and sneaks it in. She adds pureed squash to mac n’ cheese, carrots to brownies, sweet potatoes to taco meat, cauliflower to mashed potatoes, etc. What a great idea for picky eaters! If you’re interested in finding out more, check out Oprah.com or look into her book, Deceptively Delicious. I do have to say that I also think it’s really important to teach your kids to like healthy foods too, so while sneaking them into less healthy foods like brownies is a great way to add nutrition to their diet, kids also need to learn to like healthy foods enough to choose them themselves.
Along these lines, we’ve recently bought a hand blender that we’ve been using to make smoothies and soups. I’ve been having an especially good time making pureed soups with it. I cook whatever I have in my pantry (last week, it was red lentils, carrots, celery, and tomato sauce), then puree it. The final product is a thick, creamy soup that I sneak some healthy oils into and serve to my 2-year old. He gobbles it right up!
If you’d like to try a great recipe for pureed soup, here is one of our fall favorites out of Cooking Light Oct 2006. My son loves this soup so much that he repeats “I love pumpkin soup” over and over as he eats it. Double the recipe and freeze some for later!
Pumpkin Pepper Soup
1 tbsp olive oil
2 large yellow bell peppers, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 tsp paprika
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3 cups chicken broth (low sodium)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 15-oz. can pumpkin-puree
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice (optional)
2 tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds (optional)
1. Heat oil in Dutch oven. Add bell pepper, carrot, and onion. Saute for about 10 min, or until tender. Add paprika and garlic, saute for one minute.
2. Add 3 cups broth and black pepper. Bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 min.
3. Puree soup (either in food processor or with hand blender).
4. Stir in pumpkin. Cook over low heat for 10 min, or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat, add lemon juice. Ladle soup into bowl, top with pumpkin seeds, and serve. Yield: 7 servings.
88 calories, 2.7 g fat, 3.6 g protein, 14 g carb, 4.4 g fiber
