Hiding?

I love putting fruits and especially veggies into everything. If a snack, supper, lunch or even breakfast can be a little healthier why not? Some people get really upset and say you should NEVER hide healthy food or sneak it into things.

Does this mean they never make banana bread/muffins? If so, they are totally missing out! Does this mean they never make/use tomato sauce? I'd say it's pretty sneaky to puree up tomatoes and not tell your kid that you are pouring tomatoes all over their pasta! What about kids that don't like eggs? Do those parents always sit down and explain that there are eggs in the cookies or the bread? Or do they just feed them to them anyways? What about smoothies? Do they always detail every ingredient for their kids before serving it to them? What about kids that don't like milk? Do they never bake with milk? Never use it in sauces or soups? I'm being sarcastic of course, I'm sure the people objecting don't realize all the ways that actually 'sneak' fruits, veggies and other healthful items into things.

I DO NOT classify putting veggies into things as sneaky. Why? Because I always tell my toddler what he's eating and/or he helps me put it together. (I don't list off every ingredient of course, that would be time consuming and boring for him and I! I just tell him the extra stuff I'm putting in.) I still offer him fruits/vegetables that he doesn't really like in whole form just in case he changes his mind. I know he doesn't always understand what is in things (He's 2...there are a lot of things he doesn't understand yet!), but the more he helps me make things, and sees the ingredients, the more he will realize that vegetables have so many uses and can taste wonderful :) He didn't used to like eating carrots raw or cooked. I started making him carrot pancakes and putting pureed carrot into his mac 'n cheese and now he loves munching on a raw carrot! If I'm cutting up carrots for supper I'm lucky if there are any left by the time I'm done :)

I make things like Spinach Milkshakes, Pumpkin Milkshakes, Sweet Potato Biscuits/Muffins, Cottage Cheese Pancakes, Spinach/Blueberry Brownies and Red Velvet Beet Cookies and he not only loves them, but asks for them! I would never lie to my kids and say there wasn't any veggies/extra ingredients in them. My 2 year old has already figured out that just because something doesn't taste good one way it doesn't mean it wont taste good another way. Give your kids some credit. Don't lie to them, but give them a chance to realize that just because they don't like to eat beets plain doesn't mean they can't be good in things! It's a good way to get creative in the kitchen as well :)

I love recipes from the SneakyChef and Deceptively Delicious but I don't agree with pretending it's not there. Even the Weelicious site has recipes that incorporate vegetables into things, and yet she is one of the people that thinks sneaking veggies in is *gasp* awful! Go figure :)

If you can make a healthy muffin that your kid likes, then why not? If you can make their mac 'n cheese just a little better for them, then why not? If you can get them to drink their spinach, then why not? What's so wrong with creatively getting our kids to eat their vegetables?

Juicing

I am so excited! I just picked up a Breville Ikon Juice Fountain on a great deal off Kijiji! (For some reason pictures wont load right now, but I will try again later) This thing is amazing! The guy I bought it from said his fiance bought in on an impulse and they only used it 5 times. I went to the store right away and for the first time in my life only had veggies in my basket!
First we tried just an apple to see how it worked. 1 small apple actually gives quite a bit of juice, and tastes soooooo good! I don't normally like apple juice either. Then I did a carrot, celery combo and I loved it.
The way it works is that it actually separates the pulp into a different container then the juice, and it does a good job of it too! My juice was completely free of 'chewables'. You can use the pulp for things too but more on that later :)
My goal is to do a lot of juicing this summer and in the process hopefully lose some baby weight. Along with getting some exercise too of course :) I have a bike trailer for the kids and my daughter is finally old enough to go in it, so hopefully that will become my main form of exercise for the summer.

I will work my way slowly into more and more veggies, but from the reading I did they advise to start slowly so you don't send you body into overload.
I have also learned a lot about beets in my reading. There are warnings on all the juicing sites. Never drink beet juice plain, never add too many beets to your drinks and don't mix beet juice with anything (like broccoli) with calcium, or eat calcium directly after. Why? Beets have so many nutrients in it and when you juice them you are absorbing them all directly into your blood stream. Drinking beet juice straight can temporarily paralyze your vocal cords, make you break out in hives, increase your heart rate, cause chills or a fever. Crazy! Also the reason for avoiding calcium is that beets contain a large amount of oxalic acid and when combined with calcium create an indigestible compound.
Who knew veggies could be so dangerous!!
That's my excitement. Just had to share!