Sneaky Vegetables

My New Year's resolution was to get more fruits and vegetables into my family.  My daughter has always been good about trying new things and she loves any kind of fruit.  My son, however, is the complete opposite.  He is known as The Pickiest Eater Ever, a title he takes great pride in.  And my Old-School Italian Husband would eat chicken parmesan and/or meatballs everyday if I would allow it.  So, I feel it is my duty to force more fruits and vegetables down their throats.  Ok, maybe that's a bit harsh.  I will sneak more fruits and vegetables into their diets.  Yea, that sounds good.

This first recipe has broccoli in it.  But it also has chicken, rice and two kinds of cheeses.  So, it tastes great.
There are two ways you can do this.  You can use bone-in chicken breasts, boil them and shred them.  Or you can use boneless chicken breasts, cube them and saute them.  Either way is good.  I did it the second way today.

CHICKEN & RICE (& BROCCOLI - SHHH) CASSEROLE

1 pkg frozen chopped broccoli
1 stick butter or margarine
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 cup shredded mozarella
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 chicken breasts
1/2 cup milk
1 medium onion, diced
2 cups cooked rice (cold - great use for left over rice)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut chicken into cubes.  Saute in a large skillet in a little oil (or cooking spray) until cooked.  Remove to a plate and set aside.   In the same skillet, melt butter.  Saute onion in butter until translucent.  Add broccoli and stir until thawed.  Add remaining ingredients, including chicken.  Stir to mix.  Put into a greased 9x13 baking dish and bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly.

This next recipe is for a carrot cake.  It is so delicious!  You get to have your cake and get your carrots, too.  I got this recipe from the Pioneer Woman, but I changed it a tiny bit.
I halved the recipe, because I have a half-size Bundt pan.  If you want to half it but you don't have the smaller Bundt, just use a regular 9 inch cake pan and cut the bake time to 30 minutes or so.  I will write the full recipe but it is very easy to cut in half.

CARROT CAKE

2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups shredded carrots

CREAM CHEESE ICING

1 stick butter, softened
1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour your cake pan, shaking out excess flour. (I use shortening to grease the pan)  With a mixer, mix together sugar, oil and eggs in a large bowl.  In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and combine.  Then add the carrots and mix well.  Pour into greased and floured Bundt pan and bake about 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Let cool completely.

Icing:  In a big bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese together.  Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk and stir to combine.  If it's too thick, add a little more milk, too thin add some more powdered sugar.

Spread onto cooled cake.  (This icing is also great on cinnamon raisin bagels!)  Here's what the iced cake looks like:

It comes out moist and delicious!

So, there are a few ways to sneak vegetables into your picky eater.  I know these aren't really health foods, but, when you have really picky eaters like mine, it's all about baby steps.