Share your recipes for hiding fruit and nuts in food.

[coffee]

My husband is a picky eater, and lately he's been on a junk food binge. The only healthy food he eats religiously is a banana a day. Do you have any recipes or ideas on how to hide the healthy stuff in "regular" food stuff? The only thing I can think of are smoothies, but even then the wrong concoction can reveal the hidden ingredients.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

You can easily substitute cream or even milk in recipes for oat milk, or any plain flavoured nut milk without any huge difference. Last night for our evening meal we had a creamy vegetable stew with dumplings. I'm allergic to all dairy, so the cream was replaced by cashew nuts. You simply soak the cashew nuts for a couple of hours and then blend them with some of the stock from the stew/soup until they are finely ground up and totally smooth and add it back to the stew/soup.

Outside of fruit & nuts (where you have posted this thread), we also substitute small quantities of flour for other flours (such as switching an ounce of self raising flour with maize flour or hemp flour.

If you make anything savoury with pastry in it, you can add mashed potato (as in boiled potatoes mashed) into the pastry recipe (just use much less water if any to bind the pastry together).

 

[crimsonghost747]

Do it like with dogs and hide a tiny vitamin pill in his BicMac?

But taking things a bit more seriously now, why do you have to hide it? Will he refuse to eat it just because "it's fruit"? If it's just the fact that he prefers junk food, how about making your own desserts? So many delicious dessert recipes which use fruits or berries!

 

[Katie Cha]

I make a banana-pistachio bread. It's AMAZING. And well, I can't say the pistachios are really hidden, but with enough glaze they can be slightly. It tastes so good though, that even my family who doesn't like pistachios, will still eat it.

 

[clairebeautiful]

My in-laws keep us stocked with homemade 100% pure Michigan maple syrup, so I make these really dense pancakes that have a lot of hidden healthy ingredients. I've posted my recipe here: Hearty Pancake Recipe. Now mind you, you can add almost anything to the mix (different crushed nuts, dried fruit, other fruit and veggies blended into the batter) and experiment.

I very often find myself blending extra pieces of squash or pumpkin into them instead of bananas. I also like to serve these with sliced bananas and strawberries. All around they are really filling and don't leave you with that sugar hangover that Bisquick tends to do, you know? And when in a hurry, I'll pop two in the toaster to warm them up and then slather peanut butter between them like a sandwich. Also good. Packed with protein and other whole grains. My kids love them too.

 

[lizzief79]

Nuts are good for grinding up and making a crust or topping with. An unusual idea for fruit and nuts is curry type dishes. Ground almonds are good for a korma sauce. I sometimes use sultanas and apple in curry sauces too. My mum used apple in her curries for years before I even realized it. Adding fruit and vegetables to soups or sauces is also a good idea as they are easily hidden. Cakes including various fruit and vegetables in them are quite popular at the moment.Banana and walnut cake/ loaf is delicious if not particularly healthy. Finally, make a sauce for pasta out of tomatoes, peppers, zucchini (courgette), basil, a little oil and black pepper. Blend the ingredients once cooked either into a lumpy consistency or a puree, whichever you prefer. Pour over pasta. Add a little grated parmesan and some toasted pine nuts.