Sneaky Chefs May Not Need to Sneak So Much

Is your dinner menu "Deceptively Delicious?" Do you stash the broccoli in brownies or add pumpkin puree to pasta? 

It's not too hard to understand why we moms would be tempted to sneak around. Only 21 percent of our kids are eating their "five a day." Some of our kids can make even a piece of fruit into a battle of wills.

Need the good news?

You can come out of the pantry now — at least for those vegetables that your kids are familiar with. A recent study tested whether kids would prefer the same food including a vegetable if they knew the vegetable was there, or if they would prefer the unlabeled "stealth" version.

Interestingly, kids were just fine with knowing about the vegetables in the foods, as long as the vegetable was one they were familiar with. When it came to new vegetables the kids had not tried, there was more hesitation with the labeled version. Otherwise, the kids liked the snacks that clearly labeled the vegetable inside just as much as the unlabeled version.

My favorite quote from Ms. Lizzy Pope, MS, RD, the principal investigator of this study in the interview:

"I think the bottom line is, you don't necessarily have to hide vegetables from kids if you include them in foods that actually taste good."

Couldn't have said it better myself. In fact, its similar to what I've seen at our table at home. Zucchini was disliked by my kiddo in nearly all forms until I created the Chocolate Zucchini Bread recipe in our book, The Cleaner Plate Club. Even though the recipe contains more zucchini than any other ingredient (yep, more vegetable than flour AND sugar), she will request the recipe over and over.

Once that "Aha!" moment happens and a kid finds out how good a vegetable can taste in the right recipe, it helps reduce the trial barrier to other taste adventures, too.

Here's the study if you'd like to read it for yourself:

“The Influence of Labeling the Vegetable Content of Snack Food on Children’s Taste Preferences: A Pilot Study” by Lizzy Pope, MS, RD and Randi L. Wolf, PhD, MPH. It appears in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Volume 44, Issue 2 (March/April 2012) published by Elsevier.

Thanksgiving: Yes, There Will Be Pie

While I mentioned that the sides are, if you love vegetables the way I do, "so good, you could skip the pie," there will be pie (or dessert "outside the crust"). Pie for everyone else at dinner, even if I am too full on salad and veggies. Leftover pie for my traditional Friday after Thanksgiving breakfast. In my jammies and as far from anything resembling a mall on Black Friday, I will have my pie and coffee. And I will rest.

Vanilla Sweet Potato Pie with Brown Sugar Pecan Crust
This one is a long-standing favorite and the original pie recipe that started my annual "create a new pie" quest. I still make this one every year.

Red-wine Caramel Apple Tart with Gorgonzola on a Walnut Crust
I cook a lot for the whole family, but once in a while, my grown-up taste buds need something complex and not too sweet for dessert. This is worth the effort.

Ginger Pear and Cranberry Tart
This is my second favorite Thanksgiving dessert (after the sweet potato pie). It's elegant and unexpected.

Roasted Fig and Pear Crumble
I've been crazy about figs since I was a kid and discovered fig newtons. Married to pears in this dish, it's a nice, easy dessert for the season if you don't have time for making pie crust!

Pumpkin Seed Brittle
Peanut brittle classic gets a spicy, fall update that makes a perfect garnish for Thanksgiving desserts, or just by itself. The full recipe uses the brittle as a topping for a poached pear and gorgonzola cheese salad with arugula. Sumptuous and amazing salad for the holiday table. If you are going potluck and just have one dish to bring, this one will impress the whole family and be a real stand out on the holiday table.

Pumpkin Panna Cotta with Bourbon Pecan Toffee Sauce

So easy, no oven is required. And no eggs, either in case you have an egg allergy in the family. Very good, quick and looks like you spent a ton of time on it.

Honey Five-Spice Pumpkin Pie

Uses Chinese 5-spice Powder instead of the traditional pumpkin pie spice and honey for the sweetener. Subtle, but nice take on the classic pumpkin.

Root Veggies and Sauces

I'm on the fence over the mandatory mashed potatoes for the feast. There will be traditionalists among us who will expect the standard fare right down to giblets and wiggling can-shaped blog of cranberry stuff that no one eats. There will be kids, not mine, who may only eat the mashed potatoes and turkey (not touching, of course). My kid won't eat mashed potatoes. I would prefer a roasted root vegetable medley. I only have so many burners and so much oven space.

Of course, the good news is we are smoking the turkey this year, leaving my oven free for roasting things like the apples to go under our Smoked Brussels sprouts, and a few sweet potatoes, parsnips and the like. You can also make mashed potatoes the day ahead and rewarm. No one said that have to be plain old mashed potatoes, either ... let's do both.

And, let's skip the canned cranberry sauce, too, with these easy, delicious make-ahead sauces.

Cranberry-Apple Cardamom Sauce

Red Wine, Rosemary, Vanilla Applesauce

Roasted Garlic, Parsnip and Potato Puree
With instructions for make ahead.

Caramelized Fennel and Root Vegetables with Lemon-Ginger Sauce
Really amazing dish with a lot of complexity and texture. This one is pictured at the top of the post.

Simple Roasted Root Vegetables

based on the recipe in our book for Golden Roast Potatoes

1/2 pounds new potatoes, skin on, scrubbed, and cut into {3/4}-inch cubes

1/2 lb. carrots, peeled and diced to {3/4}-inch cubes (or sweet potatoes)

1/2 lb. parsnips, peeled and diced to {3/4}-inch cubes

1 garlic clove, minced

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary

1/2 tablespoon sage, chopped

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley or chives (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Place the potatoes and garlic in your 9x13 roasting pan.

3. Steam the parsnips and carrots for 10 minutes, then add to roasting pan (so all the vegetables will cook evenly. Carrots and parsnips take longer to cook than new potatoes!)

3. Pour the oil over the vegetables and stir to coat them. Spread them evenly in roasting pan. Sprinkle with the rosemary and salt. Cover with foil, and bake for 20 minutes.

4. After 20 minutes, remove the foil, stir, and continue to roast for 15 minutes longer, until the exterior of the potatoes looks brown and crispy and the insides are tender. Remove from the oven and garnish with the parsley, if desired.

Serves 6 to 8

Thanksgiving Sides: The Not-Dreaded Green Vegetable

It's a tough job for a green vegetable to compete for a place on the plate at Thanksgiving. Mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing and the whole carb overload may not leave room for even the smallest Brussels sprout. Plus, its hard enough to get folks to eat these without all the other options.

Here's a new recipe and a few green vegetable options (scroll down)  that may convince even the most hard core starch-o-phile to try one bite. Some of them are rich, and some of them just have a whole lot of flavor.

This year, we're trying something completely different with our green vegetables. Smoked! This recipe works with both Brussel Sprouts or baby cabbages (or full size cabbage cut into wedges). If you've ever held a head of cabbage from your CSA and wondered, now what would I do with THAT besides slaw, slaw, and more slaw ... well, this one's for you. You'll need a smoker pan for this, shop around because I think you can find these cheaper.

(scroll below the recipe for links to four other great options!)

Applewood and Rosemary Smoked Cabbage with Roasted Apples
1 head of cabbage or eight small heads of cabbage, or two lbs. Brussels sprouts cleaned and halved
1 bunch green onions, or 4 shallots quartered
1 large sprig rosemary
Handful of sage leaves
Applewood chips

8 apples, cored and sliced
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbs. organic canola
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground clove

3 Tbs. coarse grain mustard
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
black pepper to taste
Smoked sea salt, or sea salt

Place the wood chips, rosemary and sage in the bottom of the smoker pan (see manufacturer instructions). Place the drip pan over that and the rack on top. On the rack, position the cabbage and onions or shallots. You may have to halve the cabbages to get the lid to close. That's okay.

Close the lid, but not all the way, leaving a half an inch. Start the gas grill (or, have spouse do this in my case. The grill is his turf.) Once you see wisps of smoke coming from the pan, then you can close the lid all the way. Turn the gas down to low. The cabbage and onion can smoke for up to an hour and a half.

In the last half an hour of smoking, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place the sliced apples on a baking sheet. Toss with canola oil, nutmeg and cloves, and spread to a single layer. Roast the apples for about 10 minutes. Turn once, roast for another 5-10 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Remove from oven and keep warm. Toss with the honey.

Whisk the dressing together, adding the pepper. Save the coarse sea salt for garnish. Assemble by placing the apples on the platter. Top with the cabbage and onions. Drizzle the dressing over top. Sprinkle with the sea salt. The smoked kind is nice if you can find it.

You can also make this with Brussels sprouts. Just reduce the smoking time to about 30 minutes since they are so much smaller.

If you don't want to use the mustard sauce, try a cider reduction which is more like a glaze. 1 cup cider, 2 Tbs. honey, 2 Tbs. white balsamic vinegar. Simmer on low until reduced to a thick syrup. Drizzle over top of veggies before serving.

Real Green Bean Casserole

Think hard, have you ever had this dish without the canned soup in the mix? If not, then you need to try the real thing. It's easier than you would think.

Cauliflower, Chard and Leek Gratin

I've had people who say they hate cauliflower love this dish. Really.

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon Shallot Vinaigrette

Brussels sprouts are back, and bacon just goes with everything. This is the easy, easy version too.

Brussels Sprouts with Apples, Sage, Bacon, Chestnuts and Gouda

Higher maintenance, but delicious. With the chestnuts, this one is a good option for Christmas, too.