We all know that broccoli, carrots, couliflower and beets are packed full of nutrition but eating it, or even better convinsing our kids to eat it is not always easy. In fact in my house brussel sprouts are down right impossible! Well, a little creativity and you can out smart the antiveggie lovers in your house. Ever tried the South Beach Diet Mashed Couliflower in place of mashed potatos? Just take that concept and go with it- Instead of all cauliflower just mix 1/2 cauliflower and 1/2 poatoes or 1/4 and 3/4, what ever works for you. The benefits of adding cauliflower are reducing the carbs and calories, hepling fight off certain cancers, helping kids fight off certain infections and addng viamin C. Try adding mashed sweet potato or bannana to a whole wheat pancake mix for a healthy alternative to regular pancakes, you can even serve up pink pancakes by adding mashed beets. If you like buckwheat pancakes, even better! You can find buckwheat pancake mix on the health food aisle at your grocer. For a sweet tooth try adding pureed pumpkin to yellow cake mix for cakes or cupcakes. You can add pureed spinach to chocolate mixes such as brownies- gauranteed to be disquised by sweet and gooey chocolate, just remember even brownies with spinache should still be a treat, not an every day indulgment. Another idea is to add mashed white beans such as navy beans to ranch dressing to make a dip or pureed red peppers and carrots to chili or spaghetti sauce.The possibilities are endless. At my house I keep it simple by hand mashing soft veggies such as the inside of a baked sweet potato, steamed or canned carrots, canned beets, canned peas, etc. If you like the concept Jessica Seinfeld has a wonderful cook book Deceptively Delicious, that lays it all out from preparing, pureeing and freezing fresh veggies to using them in main dishes, deserts and condiments. Your kids can get in on the creative fun but if you think they will be grossed out at the thought of eating veggies than please don't tell them their eating spinache in their brownies, chances are they will never know!

Gina Saum

Juice Plus- The next best thing to fruits and vegetables!

http://gsaumjuiceplus.com