Sneaky? Who, me???

I spent Sunday afternoon baking the last of the “Miss Betty” oatmeal raisin cookies for Scott and making a great big pot of chili.  I also made pepperoni hot pockets.  Whew.  I was tired.

Everybody has their favorite chili recipe.  But me…I just go the Granny Fussell route and start throwing stuff in the pot.  It eventually becomes chili.  But this time I had a “secret” ingredient.

I have been concerned that the girls aren’t getting enough true vegetables.  A coworker, whom I can’t name cause she said so, told me about a little trick of adding pureed cauliflower to mashed potatoes and other side dishes.  As I looked over a few different chili recipes, one vegetarian that I would even eat, it hit me.  If you can hide cauliflower to mashed potatoes, certainly you it can hide out in chili.

I gathered up all my chili fixin’s and got to work.  Chopped an onion and sautéed it in some olive oil.  Then, added ground beef.  Sometimes I use ground turkey, deer or pork, just whatever.  After adding the ground beef, I steamed the cauliflower in the microwave until fork tender.

I then broke out with my trusty mini chopper and chopped the cauliflower up very fine.  But not pureed. And added it to the pot along with the rest of my chili stuff.  After it had simmered about an hour, I had to test it out.  Absolutely no hint of cauliflower.

But the real test was AnnaBelle who not only is a chili connoisseur, but also likes cauliflower.  She had no clue and declared it to be excellent chili.  So I let her in on the secret.  She asked for some more. 

But could I get it by Carlee?  I wasn’t sure.

So tonight, Maddie, AnnaBelle and I had chili with cheese and sour cream.  Carlee had tortilla chips with a few spoonfuls of chili and cheese.  Would she eat it?  Could she tell?  The suspense was killing me.

Two platefuls of nachos later, she had no clue.  I had successfully managed to get Mitchell County’s pickiest eater to ingest a vegetable.  Cauliflower at that.  And she still doesn’t know.

This went over so well, that I will try this with spaghetti next week.  There are so many things that cauliflower can hide in.  Manwich meat, white chicken chili, chicken enchiladas.  The possibilities are endless.  So if you are struggling to get your family to eat more vegetables, get sneaky.  Slip in some cauliflower.  I promise I’ll never tell!