Praise for purees!

My puree addiction came about when I realized that my kids were supposed to be eating 2 1/2 cups of vegetables a day. No, I didn't say fruits and vegetables--that's just vegetables. 2 1/2 cups a day. How many cups are your kids eating?

There are some veggies my kids eat willingly, but that is still a lot to get into one day's worth of eating. I added V8 Fusion into our weekly shopping staples. I have also found "Fruitables" at Sam's which taste okay. But these juices are both pretty expensive when you have four little mouths to feed.

I then bought the book Deceptively Delicious which teaches the basic concept of cooking with purees and gives lots of recipes--some good, some not so great. I realized you can pretty much add veggie purees to anything without affecting it that much. So that's what I do. Cookies, sauces, breads, muffins, pizza, casseroles, oatmeal, brownies, cakes, smoothies--almost everything I make has added veggies. It's a great fat substitute. I stick to two "flavors" because I find them to be easy and versatile--sweet potatoes and green veggies (mixture of zucchini and spinach.) I also always have pumpkin in the freezer (leftover cooked and pureed Halloween pumpkins.)

It's really simple. I just buy a bunch of fresh veggies and cook them up in the microwave.

Then I add a bit of water and blend until smooth.

I let it cool, separate it into 1/2 cup serving sizes and scoop them into snack sized baggies.

I lay them flat on a cookie sheet and freeze them overnight in the deep freeze, then put them all into my small inside freezer to be available whenever I need them.

It doesn't take long and it's a great way to add veggies to your diet.

Which by the way...should include 3 to 5 servings of vegetables a day!