Cauliflower in the Banana Bread?

When I bought The Sneaky Chef and Deceptively Delicious a couple years ago, I started an ongoing adventure of hiding vegetables in different foods without anyone catching on to what I was doing. Just today, the blueberry muffins at breakfast had pear puree, and at dinner, our taco meat hid spinach, blueberries, and carrots!

While the books are a great read for the how-tos and inspiration, here are some sneaky tips to get you started on your own path to incognito veggies. After steaming and pureeing the veggies, I freeze them in 1 cup Gladware-type containers. Write the contents on the lid with a sharpie.

Cauliflower or mashed white beans - into anything pale like muffins, cookies, and cream sauces.

Carrots, squash, or sweet potatoes - this is the most versatile. Put it into baked beans, any reddish sauce, even into hamburger patties

Spinach - combined with blueberries, you can hide this in brownies or chocolate cupcakes. I'm serious! I also make a green puree of spinach, broccoli, and peas that I put into red sauces, burgers, and even gingerbread!

The key is really to match the color of the puree with the sauce. (Green puree into mac 'n cheese would be a bad move!) Start with 1/4 C of puree and work up to 1/2 to 1 cup. Try not to giggle too much when they're happily eating spinach brownies!