Guest post from fun-as-a-gran - http://fun-as-a-gran.blogspot.com/2011/04/fun-as-gran-my-blog.html

Vegetables in Disguise

 A Great Blog written by Fun-as-a-gran, she gives us a great recipe which makes vegetables fun for the children - and it is cheap too...

How many of you struggle to get vegetables into your children? Most of the time mine were quite good at eating them. When my own children were young they had sweets once a week, and my younger son did not want a 10p mix-up he always had a raw carrot from the shop, the shop owner use to think this was quite funny, but she would take the carrot he picked through the back, top and tail it and wash it for him and he would happily walk down the road eating this whilst the others swapped sweets for what they like and what they didnt as the mix-ups were pre-made up. He loved carrots that much especially baby carrots and I remember my mother-in-law buying him a pound of baby carrots to eat with his Christmas dinner one year and he ate the lot and nothing else, but he was a strange commodity and not all children are that willing.

My daughter use to sit and pick sliced carrots out of her mince, she would eat them in stew, so I decided this one day to grate them into the mince instead, and the little madam sat and picked all them out as well, just stubbornness I think but that's children for you.

But I found one way round this that was successful not only with my children but with friends children and child-minded children as well. The idea is to make food fun, and make the vegetables so they don't look or taste like vegetables. My children use to call this play-doh and if they had a hand in making it then they would eat it.

beetroot and potatoes in ring mould

Boil potatoes, roughly 500g potato to 250g vegetables that you intend using is a good ratio, depending on how many you are feeding and how large an appetite you can work out how much you need to feed your family. Cook the vegetable you are going to use. This works great with and veg but is easiest with carrots, squash, beetroot, sweet potato, pumpkin and other such soft vegetables.

If using spinach, peas, broccoli, sweetcorn or the likes you will need to put through a food blender to get the correct consistency. Must admit for beetroot (http://www.healthysupplies.co.uk/beetroot-powder-50g-hampshire.html)  and spinach ( http://www.healthysupplies.co.uk/index.php?subframe=page&pagename=spinach-powder-50g-hampshire&searchphrase=spinach&searchfrom=0&searchto=50) I find it easier to use products like these, they also do tomato (http://www.healthysupplies.co.uk/tomato-powder-500g-sussex.html) and carrot (http://www.healthysupplies.co.uk/carrot-powder-500g-sussex.html)

Whilst still warm mash your potatoes and vegetables, or for a smoother finish put through a potato ricer. Mix 2 parts potato to 1 part veg and stir till combined to make a mixture all of one colour.

carrot and potato shapes

At this point you can leave the mixture to cool and get the children involved in the next part of the process, remember that if they are fussy about their veg then you may not want them involved in stage 1.

beetroot potato with grated cheese on

Using pastry cutters or shaped biscuit cutters, make shapes with the mixture, place on a baking tray and heat at 180 oC till warm and crispy.

These can be used as your potato and veg to accompany meat or fish, or try grating cheese into the mixture before you shape it and make it a meal in itself.

My children use to like using circles of differing sizes and making traffic lights, a large spinach one on the bottom, a middle sized carrot one in the middle and a small beetroot or tomato one on top.

the cooked items

See what ideas you can come up with, come back and let me know.

This Wonderful Blog was written by our Guest blogger - if you would like to read more from our Guest Blogger then you can find her blog here -  http://fun-as-a-gran.blogspot.com/2011/04/fun-as-gran-my-blog.html