Veggie pockets are a great way to sneak veggies into your meals and serve as complete sides!

For other great ideas to add veggies to your meals, read on!

1.  Mix them into something else - like adding cauliflower into mashed potatoes. Your mind says potatoes, and nobody ever knows its half vegetable.

2. Bake with them: adding veggies to muffins, cakes and breads. Substitute pumpkin, apple sauce or mashed fruit for eggs and oil.

3. Put them in smoothies - once they are ground up you cannot taste them. Adding 2 cups of spinach for example has zero effect of the taste.

The most common way to get anyone to eat more veggies is to throw them into smoothies. Vegetables like spinach or kale can instantly turn a smoothie green, which is a clear tip-off. But you can throw in a cup or two easily!   The fruits or a bit of yogurt will overpower the taste, nobody will know they are there but you and the blender or Ninja!    

You can also create a smoothie recipe and give it a cute name like the green monster, or the green dream so your family looks forward to the special green drink with the fun name. Because they helped name it, they’ll focus on how yummy it is and feel good that they were part of the secret recipe!

4. Make it look enticing or attractive!  We all are tempted by sight and smells.   When food looks good our brains are triggered and we want to eat it!

5. Sometimes, it’s all about the presentation. Is that celery or a log housing delicious peanut butter and raisins? Is that shredded lettuce or a bed for a cute bird made from a boiled egg? Or a turkey made from fruit!  Family members might be more inclined to eat vegetables when they are presented in a fun way or have a fun name.

6. Mix veggies in with hamburger meat or buy pre-made veggie burgers. When you dress them the same – lettuce, pickle, tomato, onion, mustard or A1 steak sauce, your mind doesn’t know the burger is 1/2 or all veggies.  It looks enticing #5 in use!

7. Make pancakes or waffles with butternut squash - once the maple syrup is drizzled over them and you serve fruits on the side, your family will gobble it up!  You can secretly declare that they “like squash” and next year, confess what the secret ingredient is.

8. Make avocado chocolate pudding - OK, avocados are technically a fruit, but they contain lots of great nutrients and most of us think it is a veggie.  Avocados add delicious creaminess to this chocolate pudding, and the sight of chocolate and the taste of chocolate masks the fact that there are avocados in the recipe!  (this is a perfect way to use up avocados that are about to go bad), mix with unsweetened cocoa, sugar, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon, chill for at least half an hour, then surprise the family with a rare dessert treat on a special occasion.

9. Cut them up fine and add them to your favorite dishes.  Or use them purposefully instead of other ingredients and make a completely veggie filled lasagna.

10.  Substitute wheat pasta with spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles.

11. Add them to casseroles - casseroles are a great one dish dinner and the veggies take on the taste of the other ingredients, they hide inside family favorites! When they are cooked down, they disappear into the delicious dish!