About 6 months ago, when two "sneaky" cookbooks called The Sneaky Chef and Deceptively Delicious first graced the bookshelves, the debate broke out over whether these methods of eating healthy foods were really effective or not, since so such a small amount was added to one dish and since children (for whom these books’ recipes were aimed at) would be tricked into eating vegetables. Many experts were afraid that this would lead children to believe that eating vegetables was undesirable or that their parents were lying to them.

This debate has now cooled off and the case has been rested, but without a true solution. Sure, sneaking ridiculously small amounts of cooked, pureed vegetables into food and tricking your children aren’t the best ideas, but is there a better idea when it comes to hiding vegetables? After pondering this question and doing some experimenting in the kitchen, I have come to a solution.

From what I have seen, the reason for being "deceiving" when adding vegetables to a dish is to keep picky eaters from having a biased opinion of the dish before eating it. So really, to keep from being seen as a liar, all you really have to do is postpone your announcement of what’s in the dish until everyone has finished eating.* This way, the picky eater tries out the dish without being set against it to begin with and after being told of the healthy foods it contains, will slowly come to realize that healthy food can taste good.

*To continue on with this idea, you should try to apply the "I won’t tell you what’s in it until you’ve eaten it rule" all the time (even when it’s unhealthy food) in order to keep your family from becoming sceptical when you occasionally won’t admit the contents of a dish.

Now that we’ve gotten the ethical issue off our chests, it’s time to tackle the issue of the healthy foods. The question is, sure vegetables sneaked in to a dish can pass unseen, but can you really add enough of them to significantly boost the nutritional value of a dish? After a bit of experimenting in the kitchen, I have come to the solution that yes, you can, but not with every dish…

There seems to be 2 requirements for a dish to be good for sneaking vegetables a) The dish must have a powerful flavour showcased (tomato is one of the best, although it is technically a vegetable itself…) and b) The dish must be mostly liquid. Sneaking squash into a grilled cheese, an idea the author of Deceptively Delicious recommended, will only give you a few tablespoons of veggies while you can sneak a ½ cup or more (equivalent to 1 food pyramid serving) of vegetables into a soup or pasta sauce.

Besides the 2 main requirements I have also discovered a few other small things to do in order to make things better…

•Puree the vegetables you want to add to a dish first and then gradually add the "powerful" flavouring ingredient to the vegetables until you can no longer taste or notice the vegetables easily. Make sure you stop adding the flavourful ingredient as soon as you possibly can.

•Don’t forget to add a bit more salt and seasonings than usual. Since vegetables are very low in sodium and most of the dishes we are used to eating are very high is sodium, although I don’t usually recommend adding a salt to a dish, I find that here a bit of it is absolutely necessary in order for things to like usual. You may also want to add a bit more seasonings than usual, since vegetables need a bit more to bring out their delicate, natural flavour in a dish.

•Don’t cook every vegetable you want to puree. Some vegetables can be pureed raw, such as roughly chopped bell peppers, mushrooms, and zucchini. By adding these raw purees to your dishes, you can conserve a bit more nutrients.