Missy Chase Lapine
Missy Chase Lapine, New York Times best-selling author, who has written a series of healthy cookbooks, including The Sneaky Chef. Her latest, Sneaky Blends, features more than 100 all-new healthy recipes. TheSneakyChef.com
Children aren’t the only picky eaters. About 90% of adults don’t eat the recommended five daily servings of fruits and vegetables.
The solution: “Sneaky” cooking. You can sneak produce and other healthy ingredients into foods that everyone enjoys. One great way to do this is with purées — cooked or raw vegetables, fruits and beans that are mixed with a little water and processed in a blender or a food processor.
You don’t need butter and milk for great mashed potatoes.
Healthier: Assuming that you’re using about two pounds of potatoes, replace the butter with two tablespoons of olive oil, and add about one cup of puréed cauliflower and zucchini. Steam the cauliflower until very tender (about 10 to 12 minutes) before puréeing. The zucchini is peeled and puréed raw, then blended with the cauliflower purée. Instead of milk, add one-half cup of plain, low-fat yogurt. Then add three heads of roasted garlic. Most people like garlic — and it provides a “decoy” flavor that masks the taste of the vegetables.
Sardines are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, important for cardiovascular and neurological health. Many people prefer the milder taste of tuna, which is high in omega-3s but also may have toxic mercury. Sardines are smaller than tuna and are less likely to accumulate mercury.
Healthier: Make a traditional tuna salad, but replace some of the tuna with mashed skinless, boneless sardines. My husband can’t stand sardines, but he likes my tuna salad. At first, I replaced just a little bit of the tuna with sardines. Now I’m at a 50-50 ratio.
MEGA-MARINARA SAUCE
A tomato-based red sauce — for meat loaf, pasta, etc. — is the ideal hiding place for sneaky additions. Vegetable purées reduce the natural acidity of tomatoes, helping to prevent heartburn, and the strong flavor of the sauce makes the vegetable flavors disappear.
Healthier: Replace about one-third of your sauce with either a carrot–sweet potato purée (cook the vegetables until soft before puréeing) or the purée made with cauliflower and zucchini.
Traditional muffins are high in fat. You can make a leaner version with a white bean purée. Beans are an excellent source of protein, and they also are high in fiber and antioxidants.
Healthier: Add one-half cup of white bean purée in place of about half the fat. A 15-ounce can of white beans, rinsed, makes about one cup of purée. Store the rest in the refrigerator for up to three days, or freeze.
Traditional brownie recipes contain a lot of butter and sugar.
Healthier: Substitute one-half cup of “purple purée,” made with wild, frozen blueberries, organic raw baby spinach and lemon juice, for up to half the butter or oil and half the sugar. Baby spinach has a milder flavor than the mature leaves.
Chilis and soups are among the best foods for substitutions because you can add healthy ingredients without significantly changing the flavor.
Healthier: Add two tablespoons of oat bran or wheat germ. You also can add purées, such as white bean or “green purée” made with raw baby spinach and steamed broccoli and peas.
