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How to Hide Your Veggies

New York dietitian Mindy Hermann, coauthor with Barbara Rolls on the 2012 Volumetrics diet book, offers these tips for adding vegetable purees to other dishes:

• Match color of vegetable to color of dish, especially in light-colored dishes. For example, pureed cauliflower in potato soup or a rice dish, or pureed squash in mac and cheese.
  
  

• Tomato-based dishes are best for hiding purees because their flavor and color are very forgiving. Use white (cauliflower, parsnip, onion), orange (carrot, pumpkin, squash), or even green (broccoli) purees.
  
  

• Spice it up. Mexican-flavored dishes are particularly good for hiding purees.
  
  

• Tuck pureed squash or pureed black beans into brownie or chocolate cake batter.
  
  

• Substitute vegetable purees for up to half the added fat in baked goods.
  
  

• Add purees to casseroles that have ingredients of several different textures and colors so that the purees won't be as noticeable.
  
  

• Add as much as you can get away with while retaining the flavor, appearance and appeal of the original dish.
  
  

Recipe: Pumpkin Cranberry Bread >>