My 3rd son has broken me. Up until him I could get my kids to eat vegetables. My first ate them easily. My second ate them with some negotiating. But my 3rd just HATES them. As he has gotten older we’ve been able to work with him to eat more and more but he still rarely eats them without a fuss. I won’t give up on him but in the mean time I’ve needed to do a little “sneaking” around here. My latest sneak is something I’m pretty excited about. He has no idea what’s going on and I”m taking pride in this victory.
So this idea was born from a book I got a few years ago and haven’t done a lot with. It’s by Jerry Seinfield’s wife called “Deceptively Delicious“. It’s a whole cookbook of ideas on how to hide steamed vegetable purees in foods. I liked the concept and did it a few times here and there but then all of a sudden I have 4 boys and preparing, washing, cutting, steaming, pureeing, and using the purees became all too difficult. So with that idea in mind, I powdered some freeze-dried vegetables and voila – I’m ready to go.
How Did I Do it?
Powdering Freeze-Dried Cauliflower: I took about half a can of Thrive Freeze-Dried Cauliflower and put it in my blender. I blended it about 20 seconds and it turned it into powder. As you can see in the picture the cauliflower blends down a fair amount and becomes really concentrated. I store the powder in a tupperware in my fridge and even just a tablespoon of the powder is a good amount of cauliflwoer.
Adding it to Mac and Cheese: While the noodles for the Mac and Cheese are boiling, I add 1-2 Tablespoons of cauliflower powder, 1-2 tablespoons of powdered milk, the cheese mixture and 1/2 cup of water in a bowl. I mix it all up and then put it in the noodles once they have been cooked and drained.
What’s Next:
This worked so well it has me thinking of other ways I can hide Freeze-Dried veggie powders into our foods. There’s Freeze-Dried Butternut Squash that I know has a very subtle taste, Freeze-Dried Zucchini and more. The options are endless.
Are there any applications you can think of with this. I’m excited to keep exploring with this concept. I love Freeze-Dried foods!
- Jodi Weiss Schroeder
http://yourthrivelife.com
Hi there! I’m Jodi. I teach busy moms how to save time and money in the kitchen while making healthy and delicious meals using freeze-dried foods.
Jennifer says
Freeze-dried cauliflower and bell pepper powder to sun out about 1/2 the breadcrumbs in meatballs. I enjoyed it! Also, butternut squash in a quesadilla; it’s the same color as cheese. Worked ok for me but I put too much. I’ll have to watch it better next time.