Oh.

>> Mhm. Mhm. Hurry up and eat your gray

lumps.

>> What's the orange on it?

>> If they see this, it's going to be an

automatic no.

>> Hi, I'm Hannah. I'm the world's mom and

I'm a bit of a sneak when my kids are

going through a picky phase. I like to

hide vegetables in their food. I've done

it several times. You've seen me do it

several times. So, I'm going to try it

again cuz we're in a bit of a phase.

Picky phases are a universal truth of

parenthood. They just are. And picky

eaters are super super common. What I

found is a mixture of offering and

introducing vegetables and hiding

vegetables works pretty well. If you've

watched this show for a while, you've

seen Wyatt's progress.

>> The way he has gone from an incredibly

picky eater

>> to a pretty diverse and adventurous

eater.

>> So, for an entire week, I'm going to

hide one veggie that my kids don't like

in their food. Sometimes it's a hit,

sometimes it's a miss. So, wish me luck.

So, for the rules, I have to incorporate

an adequate amount of vegetables. I

can't just hide one leaf of lettuce in a

meal and call that a win. And then along

those lines, I really want to

incorporate the vegetable fully into the

dish. And then the final rule is nobody

has to eat it. I'm never going to

pressure them to eat a food. So, I don't

think they're going to be tears or

screaming. That's not the goal. It's not

to traumatize my kids. The goal is to

find some healthy ways to enjoy new

vegetables, even if they don't even know

it.

>> I want to make some homemade chicken

nuggets with this squash cooked into it.

My kids have never liked squash. I think

Matt and I are the only people in the

house who like squash. I'm going to cut

this into little squares.

Just, you know, little pieces that are

quick. I'm doing yellow squash instead

of zucchini because the green really

gives it away when you see little bits

of green. I have to find a way to

incorporate these in a subtle manner.

When I'm choosing to hide these

vegetables, it's about the texture. It's

about the flavor. And it's about the

color. Like, they don't notice or hear a

thing until there's a speck of green on

their plate. And then all of a sudden,

they're there with their little surgical

tools dissecting this little speck of

green. Let's get this on a pan.

Got some

squash the pepper just so it retains its

water. In brainstorming how to use the

squash, I don't even understand how I

came to this idea. I decided that I'm

going to put it in chicken nuggets. Why?

I have no clue. Have I ever made my own

chicken nuggets? I don't think so. Have

I ever hidden veggies in a chicken

nugget? No. I don't even know what I'm

doing. I should have looked up a recipe.

Maybe I should have even looked up a

recipe for chicken nuggets. But it got

kind of stressful because as I'm making

it, I realize I can't taste it because

this is raw ground chicken. I mixed it

together and it's a little mushy. So,

I'm going to try to refrigerate this and

see if this firms up a little. So, I

don't even know if it tastes like

squash. I don't know if it's seasoned

enough. I don't know if it's salted

enough. I decided to do these baked

because I'm too scared to fry. Okay,

let's get these in the oven. I think

these probably can't take more than 20

minutes. Do they look good?

>> Uh-huh.

>> Yeah.

>> I didn't get as far as to make something

to pair with them.

>> Why don't you just heat up fries?

>> Should I do French fries?

>> Yeah.

>> Okay. The one thing about faked chicken

nuggets with panko is they do not turn

to a golden brown. Hurry up and eat your

gray lumps. Why is so sweet? He said

they're not gray lumps. They're beige

lumps. Uhhuh. So sweet. Look at the

inside. Looks like a nugget.

So much of food is the visuals.

M having these chicken nuggets not be as

visually appealing as the chicken

nuggets they're used to was something

that was making me very nervous. But I

served them up. I figured if I have

enough dipping sauce options, we'll be

fine.

>> I don't want to try mayo.

>> You don't have to try the mayo. You

asked for it, though.

>> It doesn't look like anymore.

>> It does look golden.

>> Not only did they enjoy them, they ate a

lot.

>> What do you rate it out of 10

or nine?

>> French fries. Yummy.

>> These are good.

>> Should I make them again?

>> Mhm.

Wow.

>> Is it thumbs up?

>> I did not tell them that the chicken

nuggets had squash. I would like to be

able to make them again. Now, because

day one was so much work, it went well,

but the recipe itself was very labor

intensive and it took a lot of time. On

day two, I just wanted something quick.

Boxed mac and cheese is something I

always know I can get my kids to eat.

When you have picky eaters, it's

priceless to have a fail safe like that.

Now, one thing I know about beets is the

color is not the issue. My kids love the

color of beets. And we know this because

we had pink soup in a previous episode

and we had pink Alfredo for Lenny's pink

party when I let the kids plan our week.

Pink mac and cheese. Someone must have

done it before, right? Someone has to

have tried this before because I think

it's pretty much brilliant. We've made

an Alfredo sauce with powdered beads

that turned it slightly pink. So, I drew

inspiration from that and I did a white

cheddar mac and cheese and I really,

really, really went heavy on the beef.

It's all stirred in.

>> This was a hot pink mac and cheese.

I just have to thicken this up a tad.

I'm going to put the cheese sauce in.

>> Hi, Mom.

>> Hi. Okay, here's the cheese sauce. It's

a little watery, so we have to thicken

it up. How much beet is too much beet?

>> What did you say about pink? You said

pink's your favorite flavor.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> And does it taste like squy?

>> I think it tastes like mac and cheese.

>> I know they're going to like this.

Honestly, it looked beautiful. It was so

fun. And why is so squishy on the back?

>> Tastes like

>> my really cheesy mac and cheese.

>> Everybody asked me how I got it pink.

>> And I just left the room. So

>> just a little bit of lying by omission,

but everybody ate it. You

>> got a cheese pole. Girl, get it.

>> Good job.

>> After the success of squash and beets, I

decided to try a third. that is an

absolute no in my house, which is

zucchini. Very similar to squash, but

it's a little more difficult because it

has green skin. I have a bunch of

zucchini that came with the squash I

bought. And I know this is kind of a

copout,

but I have been craving zucchini bread

so hardcore. There's this uh restaurant

near where I grew up that used to bring

out zucchini bread instead of a bread

basket and it was free and it was

absolutely incredible. So, I want to try

to figure out how to make it. I know my

goal was not to just slather vegetables

in sugar and butter and make it into a

dessert or something like that, but I

just really, really, really wanted to

make zucchini bread. So, I kind of

compromised with myself. I'll make the

zucchini bread, but I'll amp up the

zucchini content. I'm going to need this

whole thing.

My zucchini bread craving

will soon

be fulfilled. Doing like a really tiny

grate

in hopes that it just won't show as

much. This is something I tend to do

when I'm hiding veggies is I hide too

many veggies. I think my takeaway from

this preparation is less is more when

you're starting out hiding veggies. As

it's baking, my whole house smells

amazing. Look at that. Smells amazing.

But we have to let it cool completely.

Making a bread loaf is such a time

consuming thing that by the end it had

better be good. That's all I'll say.

>> Let's try this place. Got to get a

healthy slathering of butter, a little

bit of salt. I just wanted to get them

to taste it to see that it it can taste

very good. Good, girl. Good job. Here

you go.

>> Thank you.

>> Tell me how it tastes.

It

>> tastes like banana bread. It's

>> so good.

>> What do you think?

>> Soon as they heard zucchini, Henry

closed for business. No way. I'm not

eating that.

Can't win them all. Another day, another

dinner. And wh look what I got. And I

just realized that these are actually

fruits. But you know what? I've changed

the rules. It can be whatever I consider

a vegetable. Okay? And I consider these

a vegetable because it's also a food my

kids won't eat. The only one who will

eat them is Jackson. So, I'm going to

hide some avocado. The mode of today is

we're going light. We're not overdoing

it. We're not mashing 16 avocados to

make this dish. Hannah, I decide I'm

going to make Alfredo sauce with

avocado.

Boiling the noodles. I'm mashing this

avocado. But to be honest, I think I'm

going to have to blend it. I'm just

feeling

so lazy. Simple Alfredo sauce. Let's add

this. So, my kids like Alfredo more than

red sauce. I know that there are a lot

of recipes for hiding veggies in a red

sauce. Been there, done that. But I

really wanted to find a way to make a

healthier Alfredo sauce. The one thing

I'm nervous about is avocado browns.

Like, what if the whole sauce turns

brown? They will not eat it. Okay.

Okay. I was so surprised they liked it.

But then again, why would I be

surprised? It's like heavy cream and

cheese and salt. Like maybe this was a

little too easy. But a win is a win.

>> Good job, girlfriend.

>> You finished it.

>> What do you think?

>> It's good.

>> I always feel like an evil mastermind

when I'm doing this. Honestly, I'm such

a bad liar. Whenever I do this and I'm

hiding the veggies and I don't say

anything, I feel like a Disney villain.

I'm always like, "Ooh, you like that,

huh? Tastes good."

So, after the moderate success of the

zucchini bread, I knew at some point in

this week I wanted to bake something

else. Today's veggie

literal

like leaves off a tree. Basically, it's

kale. So, I'm going to show you what I'm

trying to make with this. My go-to for

hiding vegetables is always spinach. I

blend spinach in pancakes. I blend it in

smoothies. I put it in muffins. I put it

in tortillas. I put it in everything.

So, I wanted to branch out a little bit

and try kale instead. The first thing

we're going to do is soften this kale.

It is a tough tough green. Even if you

cook it for a really long time, it is

still kind of chewy and it's got that

rougher texture. They're just not big

fans of it. One thing I do a lot of the

time is I will just buy a box of muffin

mix and blend up spinach or another

vegetable and pour it in the muffin mix.

I did not want to rely on that crutch

because I have been going kind of easy

on myself with the box mac and cheese

and the Alfredo. So, I made a muffin

from scratch. You know what? There's

some applesauce in here

to cut the sugar a bit. I realized I've

been making up this muffin as I'm going

along. It's bright green. It looks just

like kale. And I'm trying to figure out

what flavor can this muffin be that will

make it look and taste the most

appealing. And I landed on chocolate.

Mint chocolate chip looking. This is a

little runny. These look adorable. They

look amazing. There is chocolate in it,

but there's a lot of other good stuff in

it, too.

>> The inside looks so good. It literally

looks like mint chocolate chip.

>> Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Oh, wow. Yep. In my mind,

this is a lot better than me going to

the store and buying muffins that

probably have a lot more sugar. I feel

good about putting these in front of my

kids. Is this mint? Hey,

>> it's like a mint chip.

>> What? Lovey. Oh, it does.

>> Wait, hold on. That's good. These are a

smash hit. They're a win. I don't know

how the kale worked its way into there.

Almost exactly like spinach. I think the

key is really, really steaming it. But

these went over so well. One thing I

have to do when I'm introducing new

vegetables and new foods is lean into

the foods I know they like. And if I

know they consistently like muffins, I'm

just going to try to make muffins. Day

six, you know, I got to try a mushroom.

What are these, you ask? Um, ground

beef. Okay, ground beef.

Definitely not mushrooms. Ground beef.

I'm making tacos with ground beef. Okay,

I'm going to add some ground beef to

this. You might remember mushrooms have

always been Jackson's least favorite

vegetable.

>> Do you want to know what was in the

burgers?

>> Yeah,

>> mushrooms.

And you said you liked it.

>> But through hiding them in food, I have

changed his mind on them. And he is

pretty easygoing with mushrooms now, and

I want to keep pushing that for the rest

of my kids. I wanted to try a completely

new way of hiding mushrooms, but at the

same time, I know what they work with,

and that is ground beef.

Whoa. Okay. Okay. I just want to

apologize.

We know how my kids feel about tacos. We

do every kind of taco in the world. So,

mushroom beef taco.

Maybe that's the next big thing. I

absolutely have to get this cooked

before the kids come home because if

they see this, it's going to be an

automatic no. But they're literally on

their way home right now. I feel like if

I put enough toppings on these, it's

going to be fine. Maybe they'll just eat

it and not look too closely. A little

bit of taco seasoning on this. Um, tacos

are almost like a pizza where with

enough toppings, you're not really

paying attention to what's underneath.

It's a little spicy.

I don't know if they'll go for it. It's

so tasty though.

>> Mom. Mom, can you have one of yours?

>> What do you want?

>> Tastes like elo. They ate it, but they

knew something was up. There were some

very suspicious looks.

>> Why do you keep looking in it?

>> Because I was just seeing the

ingredients.

>> I know what's in it.

>> I like it.

>> What's in it?

>> Mushrooms.

>> I'll let them have their own mushroom

journey. Not that kind of mushroom

journey. The vegetable. Get your head

out of the gutter. We did live in Joshua

Tree. Okay.

Not knowing how the week was going to

go, I decided to save my most brilliant

idea for day seven. This is going to be

a real challenge.

Nope, it's not cantaloupe. Okay, even

though it looks like it, every time I

see this, I just want to take a huge

bite. This is raw cut, freshly cut

butternut squash. I think the way that

butternut squash is typically served is

just in foods that my kids don't

necessarily care for. My kids always get

mad when I make soup, but I think it's

because the soup has chunks of

vegetables in it. I've got my broth,

my squash, and so I had an idea. What if

I cook and blend the vegetables in the

broth so they're undetectable? And then

I just make a basic noodle soup.

I'm definitely not the first person

who's thought of this, but I felt very

brilliant.

Oh, see there's a chunk, a rogue chunk.

And then I'm not pushing my luck, so I'm

literally just putting chicken and

noodles in it. I have this rotisserie

chicken that I already pulled all the

meat off of. I always cook the noodles

separately and then add them into the

bowls individually so that they don't

get I'm just going to eat this piece.

Honestly, this is the key to soup. Just

blend the vegetables in the broth. I

don't know why I didn't do it sooner.

>> Literally, this just looks like a really

rich chicken soup. Are you excited about

the soup?

>> Mom. Mom, can I have some ice? Mom?

>> Yes, I'll put some ice in it. You want

to eat your soupy?

>> But it's too hot. Okay, I'll put some

ice in it.

>> Mom, go put some ice.

>> Say please.

>> Please.

>> There you go.

>> How does it taste?

>> It's good.

>> Thumbs up.

>> What do you think?

>> Um, 9.5 out of

>> M. Very good.

>> What's the orange on it?

>> It's the broth. Okay,

help me.

>> I don't need this.

>> What?

>> Squash.

>> This was phenomenal. It's super

nutrientdense and super flavorful, but

it doesn't have my kids trying to

excavate and pick out everything they

don't like. Oh, dusted.

>> Dusted it.

>> That was delish. Overall, I would call

this week one of the bigger successes

because I came away with a lot of

different recipes that I can keep using

into the future. I think sometimes

there's shame around hiding the

vegetables because you want your kids to

just genuinely enjoy the vegetable, but

when you have picky eaters, you got to

do what you got to do. I'm going to keep

doing this until they eat all the

vegetables on their own. They're going

to be 35 years old coming home to visit

and they're going to find mushrooms in

their hamburger meat. So, that's all for

now. I'm Hannah and if you have any

hidden veggie recipes, leave them in the

comments or you can message me on

Instagram. And if you'll please excuse

me, I'm going to go make some more of

those squash chicken nuggets because

they were actually amazing. Till next

time.