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The Hidden Vegetables Cookbook: 90 Tasty Recipes for Veggie-Averse Adults
This is a simple cookbook of recipes using fresh vegetables to infuse dishes nutritionally, designed for adults who don’t like vegetables. Designed for adults, it simultaneously takes nutrition and veggie-aversion seriously, offering 90 recipes to incorporate, disguise, and overpower the flavor of vegetables in tasty recipes.
This isn’t for parents hiding vegetables in food for their kids, these are grown-up dishes with complex flavors, and delicious treats that just happen to have vegetable ingredients.
Recipes like:
• Banana muffins with riced cauliflower and a touch of ginger
• Classic Salisbury steak with spinach-infused brown gravy
• Beef Bourguignon and Chicken Enchiladas with carrots and onions you’ll never notice
• Chocolate Cake with undetectable zucchini
This is the perfect cookbook for those who hate vegetables but want to add the nutrition to their meals.
This isn’t for parents hiding vegetables in food for their kids, these are grown-up dishes with complex flavors, and delicious treats that just happen to have vegetable ingredients.
Recipes like:
• Banana muffins with riced cauliflower and a touch of ginger
• Classic Salisbury steak with spinach-infused brown gravy
• Beef Bourguignon and Chicken Enchiladas with carrots and onions you’ll never notice
• Chocolate Cake with undetectable zucchini
This is the perfect cookbook for those who hate vegetables but want to add the nutrition to their meals.
180 pages, Paperback
Published September 6, 2025
2 people want to read
About the author
Heidi Herman
18 books69 followersMy passion and a common theme in my writing is my Icelandic heritage. I started with children's books and folklore, but now focus on women's fiction. But, I enjoy adding a little taste of Iceland in my contemporary novels - if you mention one in a review, that's not a spoiler!
I spent thirty years in the telecommunications industry, which was rewarding and challenging, and had a thread of writing. When my father passed away in 2015, I reassessed my priorities, opted for early retirement, and indulged my passion for writing.
After several children’s folklore books honoring my mother’s Icelandic heritage, I took on a greater challenge. My first novel, was set in the contemporary American west, blending together some of my favorite things - Iceland, rodeo, hiking, and understanding the value of true friends. I still attend many Scandinavian festivals, have speaking engagements on a number of topics, and, of course, adventures travel, but my true passion now is literary fiction. I focus primarily on mature women's fiction with elements of clean romance. My newest book is Reins of Friendship, a novella prequel to my new series Life's A Rodeo.
I am a snowbird, living in South Dakota during the summer and Arizona during the winter, migrating with my husband, our four horses and three dogs. His passion for team roping and my love of rodeo have carried over into my novels, in what I hope is an interesting and unique experience for readers.
I spent thirty years in the telecommunications industry, which was rewarding and challenging, and had a thread of writing. When my father passed away in 2015, I reassessed my priorities, opted for early retirement, and indulged my passion for writing.
After several children’s folklore books honoring my mother’s Icelandic heritage, I took on a greater challenge. My first novel, was set in the contemporary American west, blending together some of my favorite things - Iceland, rodeo, hiking, and understanding the value of true friends. I still attend many Scandinavian festivals, have speaking engagements on a number of topics, and, of course, adventures travel, but my true passion now is literary fiction. I focus primarily on mature women's fiction with elements of clean romance. My newest book is Reins of Friendship, a novella prequel to my new series Life's A Rodeo.
I am a snowbird, living in South Dakota during the summer and Arizona during the winter, migrating with my husband, our four horses and three dogs. His passion for team roping and my love of rodeo have carried over into my novels, in what I hope is an interesting and unique experience for readers.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 20, 2025
A very practical and tasty cookbook for the vegetable averse adults who want to be healthier. I enjoyed learning Heidi’s back story of growing up with a mother who didn’t like vegetables and not being exposed to them. It wasn’t until her forties when she wasn’t feeling that she learned the importance of nutrition she decided that she wasn’t ever going to learn to like them but decided to just eat them.
It was fun about her Icelandic background and I did have a good laugh as she embraced her Icelandic heritage and applied Viking law to her quest and goes to war on vegetables with top quality kitchen weapons, varying methods of attack and versatile and agile ways to flavour and disguise. I liked that this wasn’t a preachy and acknowledges that whilst they have amazing nutritional benefits not everyone will enjoy them. That said I did like to see that Heidi discovered that some she does like, others need flavour enhancements and the rest need to be hidden. I enjoyed her writing style and keen to read more of her other books.
The book itself contains information on why to watch and tips on how to include more vegetables. A section from asparagus to zucchini on how to select, source, store them and their flavour and texture profiles, spices and herbs that work well or disguise the taste, nutritional benefits. It then goes into core recipes which goes through common vegetables and how to prepare them for hiding. It goes includes a range of every day foods with extra veggies hidden in them and includes recipes for sauces, spreads and jellies, appetizers , soups and snacks, breads, breakfasts, mains and side fishers and desserts. It covers the debate of whether fresh vs frozen are better and has a helpful index sorted by vegetable.
It was fun about her Icelandic background and I did have a good laugh as she embraced her Icelandic heritage and applied Viking law to her quest and goes to war on vegetables with top quality kitchen weapons, varying methods of attack and versatile and agile ways to flavour and disguise. I liked that this wasn’t a preachy and acknowledges that whilst they have amazing nutritional benefits not everyone will enjoy them. That said I did like to see that Heidi discovered that some she does like, others need flavour enhancements and the rest need to be hidden. I enjoyed her writing style and keen to read more of her other books.
The book itself contains information on why to watch and tips on how to include more vegetables. A section from asparagus to zucchini on how to select, source, store them and their flavour and texture profiles, spices and herbs that work well or disguise the taste, nutritional benefits. It then goes into core recipes which goes through common vegetables and how to prepare them for hiding. It goes includes a range of every day foods with extra veggies hidden in them and includes recipes for sauces, spreads and jellies, appetizers , soups and snacks, breads, breakfasts, mains and side fishers and desserts. It covers the debate of whether fresh vs frozen are better and has a helpful index sorted by vegetable.
October 12, 2025
I received a complimentary copy from the author and the publisher. My galley copy was paperback and the pages weren't of the highest quality. It reminded me of a coloring book. Still, I was excited to delve into this veggie-loving treatise for veggie-averse adults. I also loved that there were actual donuts on the cover. Herman sets up right away her distaste (almost hate) for vegetables and how it wasn't until much later in life that she realized she had to embrace them for her health. Hence this book.
The first third (or more) of the book is dedicated to veggie prep or what Herman calls "Core Recipes." At first I thought this was a bit of fluff to bulk up the book but it really is a primer. For instance, she includes instructions for roasting, juicing, pureeing , freezing and storing everything from beets, kohlrabi, rutabaga to Swiss chard. Most every veggie is mentioned. On the final page of this section, she lists uses for cauliflower and zucchini water (juices). This seemed a little bit disjointed but she did offer great tips.
The first section of actual recipes is entitled "Sauces, Spreads & Jellies." The two jellies are Fruity Beetroot Jelly and Carrot Jelly (56). Both sounded interesting but I do wish there were instructions for water bathing and preserving them. The Buffalo Broccoli Cheese Sauce (59) is a great idea (reminding me of a broccoli cheese soup recipe) but the base is a can of nacho cheese. I would have liked a more homemade approach. Along the way, there's a few tips on what to do with these sauces and chutneys (like mixing in cream cheese), but she ties it a bit together at the end in "Sandwich Suggestions"---ideas like smoked turkey and the beet hummus or PBJ with the Fruity Beetroot Jelly (62).
Next up is the "Appetizers, Soups & Snacks" section. The recipes here are inventive and I do like how she throws riced veggies into almost all of them. Veggie Poppers (7) are little nuggets containing riced cauliflower, broccoli and carrots bound together with mayo, bread crumbs and Parmesan. . The Tangy Meatballs (72) have riced carrots and riced broccoli added. Soups include Potato Broccoli Soup, Easy Vegetable Soup, and Slow Cooker Tortellini Kale Soup (73-75).
The "Breads" section was the most innovative and creative. The first recipe, "Broccoli Bread," is more of a cracker. It contains riced broccoli, eggs, breadcrumbs and salt. I'm not really sure how that bakes up. I did appreciate the veggie addition ideas here---butternut in cornbread and a bit of chopped spinach in yeast buns. There's a cauliflower pizza crust and another recipe for adding zucchini to a flatbread pizza. There are a couple of quick bread recipes, too, for pumpkin and zucchini.
The "Breakfast" section includes veggies in muffins, frittatas, and quiches. The weirdest recipe here was adding minced Brussels sprouts to a savory waffle (97). Sounds odd but with the addition of some ham and cheddar it makes sense. Another recipe that caught my eye here was Morning Potato Nachos (98) which include a base of sweet potatoes topped with bacon, eggs, cheese, jalapenos and salsa. It's more of a breakfast casserole but I love the idea of serving something called nachos for breakfast! Then, there's those Glazed Beet Donuts that grace the cover (102). These baked donuts do really sound delicious mixing in warming spices with orange peel, beet juice, sour cream and buttermilk. I bet the texture is great.
In "Main Dishes," Herman sneaks in veggies to a lot of sauce-heavy entrees. She adds riced carrots and minced onions to Beef Bourguignon and adds a bit of beet puree to the sauce (108). Celery and carrots are added to Chicken Enchiladas (110). She adds leeks and carrots to her Beef Po Boys and serves them up on Spinach Buns (112). (Think Italian beef here. It's a good recipe.) Her Too-Good to Be Veggie Lasagna (113) is actually meat based but mixes in carrots and spinach puree. She adds pumpkin puree to her Beef Stew (121) and serves up Veggie Peanut Chicken on zucchini noodles (122). Sloppy Joes include celery and carrots (130). These all sound delicious and this is probably the section with the most recipes. (I'm obviously not mentioning them all here.)
One would expect a lot of veggies-in-your-face recipes in "Side Dishes," but Herman continues to be sneaky hiding pureed spinach in one baked bean recipe and kale in another. Of course, there are some veggie forward recipes like a roasted sweet and savory root veggie one (141), Honey Walnut Brussels Sprouts (142), Kohlrabi and Zucchini Fritters (145) and Grilled Vegetables (147) . On page 139, she includes a chart to help create your own "Fast Veggie-Infused Side Dishes."
"Desserts" include a recipe for Spinach Vanilla Cake (154), Kohlrabi Loaf Cake (158) and lots of beet-chocolate pairings. Zucchini and pumpkin make a lot of appearances here too. Weirdest recipe? Kale Coconut Cream Pie (164).
There are a few pictures and because the pages are not glossy, they don't seem as crisp. Not every recipe has a photo of the finished result and it would have been helpful with a few of them like Shepherd's Pie Potato Skins (66) and the Bacon Spinach Pesto Roll-Ups (67). This book can be ordered in multiple formats (paperback, paperback with b/w photos, hardcover and ebook). I am assuming that the hardcover book might be of better quality than my galley edition.
I've been wanting some quick grab-and-go breakfasts and her Omelet Muffins (106) sounded like the thing. (Plus they reminded me of Starbucks egg bites. The picture that accompanies this recipe definitely looked like it had broccoli in it (which would be a great idea) but the printed recipe just had red bell pepper and minced leeks. I decided to tweak the recipe a bit and replace the leeks with shallots, decrease the sausage amount, and add some spinach.
My galley copy was paperback and the pages weren't of the highest quality. It reminded me of a coloring book. Still, I was excited to delve into this veggie-averse treatise. I also loved that there were actual donuts on the cover. Herman sets up right away her distaste (almost hate) for vegetables and how it wasn't until much later in life that she realized she had to embrace them for her health. Hence this book.
The first third (or more) of the book is dedicated to veggie prep or what Herman calls "Core Recipes." At first I thought this was a bit of fluff to bulk up the book but it really is a primer. For instance, she includes instructions for roasting, juicing, pureeing , freezing and storing everything from beets, kohlrabi, rutabaga to Swiss chard. Most every veggie is mentioned. On the final page of this section, she lists uses for cauliflower and zucchini water (juices). This seemed a little bit disjointed.
The first section of actual recipes is entitled "Sauces, Spreads & Jellies." The two jellies are Fruity Beetroot Jelly and Carrot Jelly (56). Both sounded interesting but I do wish there were instructions for water bathing and preserving them. The Buffalo Broccoli Cheese Sauce (59) is a great idea (reminding me of a broccoli cheese soup idea) but the base is a can of nacho cheese. I would have liked a more homemade approach. Along the way, there's a few tips on what to do with these sauces and chutneys (like mixing in cream cheese), but she ties it a bit together at the end in "Sandwich Suggestions"---ideas like smoked turkey and the beet hummus or PBJ with the Fruity Beetroot Jelly (62).
Next up is the "Appetizers, Soups & Snacks" section. The recipes here are inventive and I do like how she throws riced veggies into almost all of them. Veggie Poppers (7) are little nuggets containing riced cauliflower, broccoli and carrots bound together with mayo, bread crumbs and Parmesan. . The Tangy Meatballs (72) have riced carrots and riced broccoli added. Soups include Potato Broccoli Soup, Easy Vegetable Soup, and Slow Cooker Tortellini Kale Soup (73-75).
The "Breads" section was the most innovative and creative. The first recipe, "Broccoli Bread," is more of a cracker. It contains riced broccoli, eggs, breadcrumbs and salt. I'm not really sure how that bakes up. I did appreciate the veggie additions here---butternut in cornbread and a bit of chopped spinach in yeast buns. There's a cauliflower pizza crust and another recipe for adding zucchini to a flatbread pizza. There are a couple of quick bread recipes, too, for pumpkin and zucchini.
The "Breakfast" section includes veggies in muffins, frittatas, and quiches. The weirdest recipe here was adding minced Brussels sprouts to a savory waffle (97). Sounds odd but with the addition of some ham and cheddar it makes sense. Another recipe that caught my eye here was Morning Potato Nachos (98) which include a base of sweet potatoes topped with bacon, eggs, cheese, jalapenos and salsa. It's more of a breakfast casserole but I love the idea of serving something called nachos for breakfast! Then, there's those Glazed Beet Donuts that grace the cover (102). These baked donuts do really sound delicious mixing in warming spices with orange peel, beet juice, sour cream and buttermilk. I bet the texture is great.
In "Main Dishes," Herman sneaks in veggies to a lot of sauce-heavy entrees. She adds riced carrots and minced onions to Beef Bourguignon and adds a bit of beet puree to the sauce (108). Celery and carrots are added to Chicken Enchiladas (110). She adds leeks and carrots to her Beef Po Boys and serves them up on Spinach Buns (112). (Think Italian beef here. It's a good recipe.) Her Too-Good to Be Veggie Lasagna (113) is actually meat based but mixes in carrots and spinach puree. She adds pumpkin puree to her Beef Stew (121) and serves up Veggie Peanut Chicken on zucchini noodles (122). Sloppy Joes include celery and carrots (130). These all sound delicious and this is probably the section with the most recipes. (I'm obviously not mentioning them all here.)
One would expect a lot of veggies-in-your-face recipes in "Side Dishes," but Herman continues to be sneaky hiding pureed spinach in one baked bean recipe and kale in another. Of course, there are some veggie forward recipes like a roasted sweet and savory root veggie one (141), Honey Walnut Brussels Sprouts (142), Kohlrabi and Zucchini Fritters (145) and Grilled Vegetables (147) . On page 139, she includes a chart to help create your own "Fast Veggie-Infused Side Dishes."
"Desserts" include a recipe for Spinach Vanilla Cake (154), Kohlrabi Loaf Cake (158) and lots of beet-chocolate pairings. Zucchini and pumpkin make a lot of appearances here too. Weirdest recipe? Kale Coconut Cream Pie (164).
There are a few pictures and because the pages are not glossy, they don't seem as crisp. Not every recipe has a photo of the finished result and it would have been helpful with a few of them like Shepherd's Pie Potato Skins (66) and the Bacon Spinach Pesto Roll-Ups (67). This book can be ordered in multiple formats (paperback, paperback with b/w photos, hardcover and ebook). I am assuming that the hardcover book might be of better quality than my galley edition.
I'm totally taking out the paper and photo quality from my final review because this is a galley copy. There are some inventive (and strange) ways to hide vegetables so I appreciate that. I will be working my way through the book. If you're looking for ways to incorporate raw veggies or more vegetarian recipes, this might not be the book for you. If you truly need to hide the veggie goodness in your meals, then pick this up.
The first third (or more) of the book is dedicated to veggie prep or what Herman calls "Core Recipes." At first I thought this was a bit of fluff to bulk up the book but it really is a primer. For instance, she includes instructions for roasting, juicing, pureeing , freezing and storing everything from beets, kohlrabi, rutabaga to Swiss chard. Most every veggie is mentioned. On the final page of this section, she lists uses for cauliflower and zucchini water (juices). This seemed a little bit disjointed but she did offer great tips.
The first section of actual recipes is entitled "Sauces, Spreads & Jellies." The two jellies are Fruity Beetroot Jelly and Carrot Jelly (56). Both sounded interesting but I do wish there were instructions for water bathing and preserving them. The Buffalo Broccoli Cheese Sauce (59) is a great idea (reminding me of a broccoli cheese soup recipe) but the base is a can of nacho cheese. I would have liked a more homemade approach. Along the way, there's a few tips on what to do with these sauces and chutneys (like mixing in cream cheese), but she ties it a bit together at the end in "Sandwich Suggestions"---ideas like smoked turkey and the beet hummus or PBJ with the Fruity Beetroot Jelly (62).
Next up is the "Appetizers, Soups & Snacks" section. The recipes here are inventive and I do like how she throws riced veggies into almost all of them. Veggie Poppers (7) are little nuggets containing riced cauliflower, broccoli and carrots bound together with mayo, bread crumbs and Parmesan. . The Tangy Meatballs (72) have riced carrots and riced broccoli added. Soups include Potato Broccoli Soup, Easy Vegetable Soup, and Slow Cooker Tortellini Kale Soup (73-75).
The "Breads" section was the most innovative and creative. The first recipe, "Broccoli Bread," is more of a cracker. It contains riced broccoli, eggs, breadcrumbs and salt. I'm not really sure how that bakes up. I did appreciate the veggie addition ideas here---butternut in cornbread and a bit of chopped spinach in yeast buns. There's a cauliflower pizza crust and another recipe for adding zucchini to a flatbread pizza. There are a couple of quick bread recipes, too, for pumpkin and zucchini.
The "Breakfast" section includes veggies in muffins, frittatas, and quiches. The weirdest recipe here was adding minced Brussels sprouts to a savory waffle (97). Sounds odd but with the addition of some ham and cheddar it makes sense. Another recipe that caught my eye here was Morning Potato Nachos (98) which include a base of sweet potatoes topped with bacon, eggs, cheese, jalapenos and salsa. It's more of a breakfast casserole but I love the idea of serving something called nachos for breakfast! Then, there's those Glazed Beet Donuts that grace the cover (102). These baked donuts do really sound delicious mixing in warming spices with orange peel, beet juice, sour cream and buttermilk. I bet the texture is great.
In "Main Dishes," Herman sneaks in veggies to a lot of sauce-heavy entrees. She adds riced carrots and minced onions to Beef Bourguignon and adds a bit of beet puree to the sauce (108). Celery and carrots are added to Chicken Enchiladas (110). She adds leeks and carrots to her Beef Po Boys and serves them up on Spinach Buns (112). (Think Italian beef here. It's a good recipe.) Her Too-Good to Be Veggie Lasagna (113) is actually meat based but mixes in carrots and spinach puree. She adds pumpkin puree to her Beef Stew (121) and serves up Veggie Peanut Chicken on zucchini noodles (122). Sloppy Joes include celery and carrots (130). These all sound delicious and this is probably the section with the most recipes. (I'm obviously not mentioning them all here.)
One would expect a lot of veggies-in-your-face recipes in "Side Dishes," but Herman continues to be sneaky hiding pureed spinach in one baked bean recipe and kale in another. Of course, there are some veggie forward recipes like a roasted sweet and savory root veggie one (141), Honey Walnut Brussels Sprouts (142), Kohlrabi and Zucchini Fritters (145) and Grilled Vegetables (147) . On page 139, she includes a chart to help create your own "Fast Veggie-Infused Side Dishes."
"Desserts" include a recipe for Spinach Vanilla Cake (154), Kohlrabi Loaf Cake (158) and lots of beet-chocolate pairings. Zucchini and pumpkin make a lot of appearances here too. Weirdest recipe? Kale Coconut Cream Pie (164).
There are a few pictures and because the pages are not glossy, they don't seem as crisp. Not every recipe has a photo of the finished result and it would have been helpful with a few of them like Shepherd's Pie Potato Skins (66) and the Bacon Spinach Pesto Roll-Ups (67). This book can be ordered in multiple formats (paperback, paperback with b/w photos, hardcover and ebook). I am assuming that the hardcover book might be of better quality than my galley edition.
I've been wanting some quick grab-and-go breakfasts and her Omelet Muffins (106) sounded like the thing. (Plus they reminded me of Starbucks egg bites. The picture that accompanies this recipe definitely looked like it had broccoli in it (which would be a great idea) but the printed recipe just had red bell pepper and minced leeks. I decided to tweak the recipe a bit and replace the leeks with shallots, decrease the sausage amount, and add some spinach.
My galley copy was paperback and the pages weren't of the highest quality. It reminded me of a coloring book. Still, I was excited to delve into this veggie-averse treatise. I also loved that there were actual donuts on the cover. Herman sets up right away her distaste (almost hate) for vegetables and how it wasn't until much later in life that she realized she had to embrace them for her health. Hence this book.
The first third (or more) of the book is dedicated to veggie prep or what Herman calls "Core Recipes." At first I thought this was a bit of fluff to bulk up the book but it really is a primer. For instance, she includes instructions for roasting, juicing, pureeing , freezing and storing everything from beets, kohlrabi, rutabaga to Swiss chard. Most every veggie is mentioned. On the final page of this section, she lists uses for cauliflower and zucchini water (juices). This seemed a little bit disjointed.
The first section of actual recipes is entitled "Sauces, Spreads & Jellies." The two jellies are Fruity Beetroot Jelly and Carrot Jelly (56). Both sounded interesting but I do wish there were instructions for water bathing and preserving them. The Buffalo Broccoli Cheese Sauce (59) is a great idea (reminding me of a broccoli cheese soup idea) but the base is a can of nacho cheese. I would have liked a more homemade approach. Along the way, there's a few tips on what to do with these sauces and chutneys (like mixing in cream cheese), but she ties it a bit together at the end in "Sandwich Suggestions"---ideas like smoked turkey and the beet hummus or PBJ with the Fruity Beetroot Jelly (62).
Next up is the "Appetizers, Soups & Snacks" section. The recipes here are inventive and I do like how she throws riced veggies into almost all of them. Veggie Poppers (7) are little nuggets containing riced cauliflower, broccoli and carrots bound together with mayo, bread crumbs and Parmesan. . The Tangy Meatballs (72) have riced carrots and riced broccoli added. Soups include Potato Broccoli Soup, Easy Vegetable Soup, and Slow Cooker Tortellini Kale Soup (73-75).
The "Breads" section was the most innovative and creative. The first recipe, "Broccoli Bread," is more of a cracker. It contains riced broccoli, eggs, breadcrumbs and salt. I'm not really sure how that bakes up. I did appreciate the veggie additions here---butternut in cornbread and a bit of chopped spinach in yeast buns. There's a cauliflower pizza crust and another recipe for adding zucchini to a flatbread pizza. There are a couple of quick bread recipes, too, for pumpkin and zucchini.
The "Breakfast" section includes veggies in muffins, frittatas, and quiches. The weirdest recipe here was adding minced Brussels sprouts to a savory waffle (97). Sounds odd but with the addition of some ham and cheddar it makes sense. Another recipe that caught my eye here was Morning Potato Nachos (98) which include a base of sweet potatoes topped with bacon, eggs, cheese, jalapenos and salsa. It's more of a breakfast casserole but I love the idea of serving something called nachos for breakfast! Then, there's those Glazed Beet Donuts that grace the cover (102). These baked donuts do really sound delicious mixing in warming spices with orange peel, beet juice, sour cream and buttermilk. I bet the texture is great.
In "Main Dishes," Herman sneaks in veggies to a lot of sauce-heavy entrees. She adds riced carrots and minced onions to Beef Bourguignon and adds a bit of beet puree to the sauce (108). Celery and carrots are added to Chicken Enchiladas (110). She adds leeks and carrots to her Beef Po Boys and serves them up on Spinach Buns (112). (Think Italian beef here. It's a good recipe.) Her Too-Good to Be Veggie Lasagna (113) is actually meat based but mixes in carrots and spinach puree. She adds pumpkin puree to her Beef Stew (121) and serves up Veggie Peanut Chicken on zucchini noodles (122). Sloppy Joes include celery and carrots (130). These all sound delicious and this is probably the section with the most recipes. (I'm obviously not mentioning them all here.)
One would expect a lot of veggies-in-your-face recipes in "Side Dishes," but Herman continues to be sneaky hiding pureed spinach in one baked bean recipe and kale in another. Of course, there are some veggie forward recipes like a roasted sweet and savory root veggie one (141), Honey Walnut Brussels Sprouts (142), Kohlrabi and Zucchini Fritters (145) and Grilled Vegetables (147) . On page 139, she includes a chart to help create your own "Fast Veggie-Infused Side Dishes."
"Desserts" include a recipe for Spinach Vanilla Cake (154), Kohlrabi Loaf Cake (158) and lots of beet-chocolate pairings. Zucchini and pumpkin make a lot of appearances here too. Weirdest recipe? Kale Coconut Cream Pie (164).
There are a few pictures and because the pages are not glossy, they don't seem as crisp. Not every recipe has a photo of the finished result and it would have been helpful with a few of them like Shepherd's Pie Potato Skins (66) and the Bacon Spinach Pesto Roll-Ups (67). This book can be ordered in multiple formats (paperback, paperback with b/w photos, hardcover and ebook). I am assuming that the hardcover book might be of better quality than my galley edition.
I'm totally taking out the paper and photo quality from my final review because this is a galley copy. There are some inventive (and strange) ways to hide vegetables so I appreciate that. I will be working my way through the book. If you're looking for ways to incorporate raw veggies or more vegetarian recipes, this might not be the book for you. If you truly need to hide the veggie goodness in your meals, then pick this up.
September 22, 2025
Loved the ideas and recipes! I recommend :)
Read
September 28, 2025A great addition for anyone starting to build their cookbook collection. Herman starts you from the very basics of how to handle vegetables - yes, you very well may know how to take care of carrot preparation, but she includes a vast library of care and benefits for so many including some uncommon veggies… Kohlrabi anyone?
With that said, she escalates to recipe offerings from jams, to main dishes, desserts and more. A wealth of variety as you explore different dishes with the inclusion of hidden veggies. While it specially focuses being for adults, I’ve found some inspiration as I consider different options to make for my 7 year old son.
With that said, she escalates to recipe offerings from jams, to main dishes, desserts and more. A wealth of variety as you explore different dishes with the inclusion of hidden veggies. While it specially focuses being for adults, I’ve found some inspiration as I consider different options to make for my 7 year old son.
October 26, 2025
Hidden Vegetables has a great concept to help those who dont particularly like vegetables find ways to add them to meals without tasting them.
I love how Heidi explains how she worked with the vegetables to find ingredients that would compliment the vegetables so that you didn't taste them but got the nutritional value from them.
The front portion of the cookbook goes into detail of varying methods you can use to blend, chop, and puree the vegetables and the pages are color coded to easily find the pages you need for each vegetable.
One of my favorite dishes was the Beef Bourgnignon with the beet puree. Although I love beets, my family does not and they were none the wiser that beets were in this dish.
This cookbook is a great option for people who don't mind taking time in the kitchen making food. Because of the extra step of blending or pureeing vegetables it is a bit more time consuming so for this family, I had to wait till the weekend to work through it. It does provide a lot of great ideas for adding veggies to dishes and I was surprised by how many of the dishes truly masked the flavor of the veggies.
This is definitely one i will continue to use !
I love how Heidi explains how she worked with the vegetables to find ingredients that would compliment the vegetables so that you didn't taste them but got the nutritional value from them.
The front portion of the cookbook goes into detail of varying methods you can use to blend, chop, and puree the vegetables and the pages are color coded to easily find the pages you need for each vegetable.
One of my favorite dishes was the Beef Bourgnignon with the beet puree. Although I love beets, my family does not and they were none the wiser that beets were in this dish.
This cookbook is a great option for people who don't mind taking time in the kitchen making food. Because of the extra step of blending or pureeing vegetables it is a bit more time consuming so for this family, I had to wait till the weekend to work through it. It does provide a lot of great ideas for adding veggies to dishes and I was surprised by how many of the dishes truly masked the flavor of the veggies.
This is definitely one i will continue to use !
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews