Veggie Purees

Not much baking going on at my house this week... too much other stuff going on. That doesn't mean I'm not spending my fair share of time in the kitchen, though! I've been catching up on my veggie purees to "sneak" some extra nutrition into our meals. My kitchen has been in varying stages so far this week, and I'm finally making some progress.
Potatoes? Peeled, cooked and mashed. Sweet potatoes? Roasted, peeled and pureed. Spinach... um, still in the fridge.

I took my inspiration from Jessica Seinfeld's "Deceptively Delicious" cookbook. However, most of the recipes just haven't turned out to be something my family will eat. I do still use the cookbook a lot, though - for the first section where she describes how to cook the different types of veggies. I also have gotten really good ideas of which veggies work well in other foods. Cauliflower, for example, is very easily hidden in potato dishes, which my family gobbles up.

Zucchini... well, I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to use it. Probably in a soup of some sort - that's a great place to pack some hidden nutrition. I rarely make soup anymore without adding a veggie puree. And hey, I finally found a use for my silicone muffin pan! I really hate the way it bakes, but it's fantastic for freezing 1/4 cup of puree at a time... and then the frozen purees pop right out and I can store them all in a plastic freezer bag. (Another great way to store these is to measure out 1/2 cup in a small freezer bag. Lay flat in the freezer until firm, and then they fit about anywhere, and it takes no time to thaw.)

Carrots... a great puree for soups, especially chili. Some other combos that work well: spinach or broccoli is easily hidden in beef dishes, sweet potatoes are fantastic in oatmeal (seriously!), and butternut squash works with just about everything. It's so bland that I can even swipe some on a piece of bread before adding peanut butter & jelly, and the kiddo never bats an eye. Tricky, right? ;-)