Hidden In Plain Sight? (Food Experiment #7)

I don't know how it happened. The next thing I knew, she was spitting them out. She would refuse the spoon whenever she sees something green (leafy veggies) or something orange (carrots) sitting on it. I fed her anything when she was almost a year old. She even liked cucumber and tomato. I was taken aback by her present aversion to veggies.

Aside from potty training, I am now learning the Art of Vegetable Concealment, one of the many skills of a mommy (especially to a choosy eater). I would cut up the vegetable or shred the leaves into very small pieces and bits, mix it with rice (most preferably underneath), then top it with food that she likes. But sometimes, her tongue has an extraordinary detection capability that all I could do was raise my brows.

So, I am up for experimenting with recipes, again.

I tried a recipe I got from Del Monte Kitchenomics Club Kitchen Companion Newsletter called Saucy Chicken Nuggets for dinner. But first, during lunchtime, I made a soup which I thought of myself. I had the courage to try my own ideas when hubby isn't around. I just cooked cream of mushroom soup according to package instructions. I put in diced potatoes, and when they were very soft, I added a half can of sliced mushrooms until the soup boiled. I added bits of broccoli last. Elle likes mushrooms, so without her knowledge, she was also ingesting the broccoli.

Glad she didn't notice the broccoli bits, ha ha!

Now, the recipe of the chicken nuggets includes ground chicken meat mixed with mashed tokwa (like tofu), grated carrot, chopped onion, a beaten egg, and all-purpose flour. I grabbed this chance to sneak in some super cut up spinach leaves into the nuggets. The mixture was then chilled for 10 minutes before being cut into squares, dipped in beaten egg, coated with bread crumbs then deep fried until golden brown. For the sauce, saute crushed garlic, chopped onion, pork bouillon cube and mushrooms for 2 minutes. Add cubed red bell pepper, tomato sauce, a cup of water and salt to taste. I don't know why a medium potato, cut into wide strips and deep-fried was thrown in the recipe, maybe as an added source of nutrients.

They don't look like nuggets, do they?

Thank God she ate them, though she couldn't finish a whole nugget. It's bigger than it looked. And the sauce made them yummier. Too bad she didn't want any of the potatoes. But she likes fries from fast food chains. Darn!