The art of the hidden vegie

Some time back I mentioned that I never intended to be the sort of parent who hides vegies for their child (or the sort of parent who bribes their child with food, or the sort of parent who distracts a child with food etc etc). Yesterday I realised that, while Leo does still actually eat a wide variety of vegetables, they are now all of the hidden variety. I genuinely can't think of a vegie that he would pick up and eat on its own anymore - unless you would count potato/sweet potato in hot chip form and the very occasional snow pea. This despite my clear, pre-baby vision of a child who would munch celery and carrot from a re-usable container made from environmentally friendly plastics while wearing spotless organic cotton outfits.

This hidden vegie realisation came when we were having a roast dinner on the weekend at my Mum's house and Leo looked at it all like it was a plate full of foreign substances. I often present him a dinner like this but always with at least one thing that I know he will eat (i.e. fish cakes including hidden vegies that he will eat served with three unhidden vegies that he will probably leave). So, of a full plate full of roast, he ate two mouthfuls of potato and half a slice of bread. Lame.

I've shared a couple of my best vegie hiding recipes on here before: chicken stir-fry, shepherd's pie, and pumpkin lasagne and I thought it was probably time to throw a new one in the mix. Here is my recent burger recipe - you may need to adapt depending on the size of the vegies that you use:

Eleanor's Hidden Vegie Beef Burgers

Ingredients
500gm lean beef
1 onion grated
1 small zucchini grated
1 small carrot grated
1 egg
Bread crumbs
Olive oil
4 wholemeal burger buns
4 slices tasty cheese
Tomato relish
Oven chips and snow peas to serve

Recipe
Mix beef, onion, zucchini, carrot and egg in a bowl. Add bread crumbs until the consistency is easy to handle and not too sticky. Form into four (or more) patties.

Heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan and fry the patties until they are cooked through. Toast the buns under the grill until golden. Make the burgers up to your taste with cheese and relish etc. If your children are more open minded than Leo, you could obviously add lettuce, tomato, beetroot, goji berries etc. Serve with chips and snow peas.