how to sneak in healthy food on a picky person

Grimmerick

My fiance is somewhat of a picky eater, and can be particular about certain vegetables,whole wheat and gluten free pastas. I am trying to get us as healthy as possible, we are trying for a baby next year. After cooking for him for so long I started experimenting with sneaking things in on him and with some great results. Here is what I learned

1. Never try to sneak in something that they hate the taste of. If they hate the consistency you can change that but you can't change taste and they will be suspicious and give you a harder time trying things in the future. If you do want to sneak in something they don't like the taste of puree it, only use a little and make sure there are lots of other ingredients to hide it.

2. Gluten free and whole wheat pastas work best when covered with sauces, In other words I wouldn't make a gluten free pasta with the only sauce ingredient being butter or olive oil. They will notice.

3. Dice or puree veggies that they are not fond of, if they aren't big chunks they probably won't even notice. I do this with squash and zucchini and he never knows, gobbles it right up. If they are in big chunks then I will find them left on the plate.

4. Keep trying different ways to cook or dice/puree the veggies.

5. Hide them better with things they like around them, i.e. cheese, pasta sauce, other veggies they like.

Here is an example of my spaghetti before and after:

Regular thin Spaghetti Gluten free thin spaghetti
Marinara with 1/4c alfredo Marinara with 1/4c alfredo
Parmesan Parmesan
sweet italian sausage Sweet italian sausage
Garlic Garlic
Bell Peppers
Mushrooms
Onions
Zucchini
Squash

To him it's part of the sauce and look how many veggies I snuck in there...............................Hope this will work for the kids as well. If you are interested in learning more about this Jerry Seinfeld's wife wrote an awesome recipe book on it called Deceptively Delicious. I have since told my fiance what I have been doing and it's as I figured a small shrug of the shoulders and a "as long as it's good". He has lost 10lbs without lifting a finger since I started doing this and he doesn't snack as much because he seems to be getting fuller from the food now. Also I noticed his tummy doesn't poke out as much after a meal anymore, he says he feels less bloated after dinner.