Cooking idea: Using puree vegetables


I bought a cookbook the other day (yes, another . . . !!) called Double Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld.  Its a lovely cookbook, well set out, food that normal people cook with ingredients in ones pantry, photos that look yummy and has a chatty feel about it. It you look at the Amazon link, there are a couple of recipes included on the page. 

But what is interesting is the use of vegetables purees. She adds cauliflower puree to her lemon chicken, she adds carrot puree to her granola even her Caesar dressing contains cauliflower puree!

She cooks up a large amount of vegetables - cauliflower, spinach, carrot, pumpkin, sweet potato, zucchini etc and individually purees each vegetable until smooth (in the food processor with a tiny amount of water) and places 1/2 cup portions into zipper-lock freezer bags.  These are then frozen and used when required - in soups, stews, pastas, curries, sauces you name it  . . . she puts puree where you least expect it. 

What a great way for children (and husbands) to eat their vegetables without ever knowing!!  I am going to give it a try with carrot and cauliflower and see how that goes.

The macaroni cheese contains sweet potato puree (the one in my cookbook does, the link has cauliflower)!! 

Check out this web page from Oprah.com as it contains a range of Jessica Seinfeld recipes.  The brownies recipes contains carrot and spinach puree, now that would be worth trying and how healthy . . . I could have double serving!!!

I've never needed to hide vegetables, but this is more than about hiding, its about getting maximum goodness in every meals. 

I really like the sound of Maple Spice Muffins and might make these on the weekend.


Comments

  1. Sounds like just my thing!!! I've been busting to make a cauliflower sauce for pasta!

    How much fun are new cookbooks :D

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  2. Ohhh... I love new cookbooks - and this one sounds intriguing!! :) I'm not very good with pureeing vegetables, and I don't need to hide vegetables for fussy eaters, but some of these sound really interesting! I might have to give one of the online recipes a try sometime, just to see what they're like.
    Have you tried any of the recipes yet, Jo? If so, how did it turn out??

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    Replies
    1. I haven't yet but I think I will try ones with the cauliflower, especially into things like white sauces. I think its less about fussy eaters (as this is aimed at adults) but more about pumping as much goodness into every dish. The recipes do look really nice.

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