Tonight I'm going to discuss veges...

Now I'm lucky that my family all love veges - well most of them! I'm not a fan of brussel sprouts so have never subjected my children to them... but I know that many people have children (or husbands for that matter) who have vege issues. So how do you get them into them without a battle?

Well I find that a great way to do it is to disguise it. I make pasta sauce and add eggplant and zucchini to it, you could also add carrot, parsnip, pumpkin and onion. If you have real fusspots who can spot them a mile away grate them in. In the cooking process they will become less visible...

Brown the meat you have chosen - minced beef, shredded or chopped chicken, tuna etc add the veges and heat through. Add pasta sauce (bought or make your own) add to the pasta of your choice.

I like to add something like this to cooked penne pasta, place in a casserole dish and top with grated cheese.

If you are making a lasagne - try using 1/2 pork mince and 1/2 beef mince, it is truly DIVINE!!! 

Soups are another excellent way to get those veges in, I grate all my veges like carrot, swede, parsnip, kumara, pumpkin and potato etc and add them to bacon bones with water and salt and pepper. I cook it slowly for several hours to get maximum flavour. When done you can have it just like that or use it as a base for other soups like leek and potato, tomato, pea and ham etc etc, vege power goodness the kids will love!

Add them to savoury pancakes - make a filling with a cheese sauce and add silverbeet, broccoli, cauli, asparagus to the cheese. Place in the middle and roll up. You can serve like that with a buttery hollandaise sauce drizzled over the top mmm OR place the pancakes in a buttered casserole dish side by side and pour a pasta sauce over the top and bake..

If you make corn fritters, add grated veges to that...

If your kids like mousetraps (toast with fillings on top, then grilled) add veges there...

The possibilities are endless :o)

Happy Cooking

K