I thought of you today when I was pureeing cooked carrots to put in my chili . I am sure they will pass undetected .

A couple weeks ago I used ground ostrich in my lasagna to add a little variety to our diet, and nobody was the wiser. I think ostrich has really good flavor in burgers, but I can't get anyone else to even take a taste. Well, except if I sneak it .

Cara

LOL! A friend of mine served ostrich steaks and gazelle pate at a party after he got home from a trip to Africa. We actually have ostrich farms in San Diego.

Hope it worked out okay.

My kids now know all the stuff I put in our taco meat and spaghetti sauce and chilli. Those are their favourite meals because they don't get nagged to eat their veggies.

This is going to sound weird but I picked it up off an Australian gf support group... One tablespoon of cocoa (not for those doing SCD though) and it gives any chilli recipe an incredibly rich flavour. Does that sound weird to anyone else?

I thought it was so far off the wall that I couldn't believe it... but then tonnes of them wrote in to say they wouldn't make their chilli without it. So, I scooped a bowlful out of my pot and added a bit... WOW!! Now I just put in right in the big batch (unless we're having an SCD week).

Our neighbour came over and had some and couldn't believe that half of what he was eating was vegetables because it was so rich in flavour. (For new people, I load my ground meat dishes with all kinds of stuff like ground carrots, beet, cauliflower, broccoli, etc.).

I think the ostrich meat is a cool try. There used to be a place down the road from my parent's house but on the last visit I was told they went out of business. I wasn't surprised. The prices were exhorbitant. I really would've liked to try it though.

I wonder, after they have their chilli that way for a while, if they would miss the carrot flavour?

This makes me think of when my littlest was a toddler and my MIL called me the day after she'd babysat for me. Dd had refused to eat the mac and cheese she made because it didn't have green balls. She'd been to 3 stores and enlisted the help of the stockers and they couldn't find mac and cheese with green balls anywhere.

It turned out the green balls were frozen peas. And I didn't use Kraft.

Dd was also very disappointed in Kindergarten when they visited a pizza parlor and they didn't put any veggies, or even pineapple, on the class pizzas. She couldn't believe people ate them with just cheese! (She isn't gf, but I had to share the stories...Yes, the kids will probably miss the carrot flavor after awhile...)

Recipes! Please send us your recipes! I'm sure my kids would love it if I told them there was chocolate in their veggies !

Claire

Now that you mention it, I think I have heard of adding chocolate, but have never tried it. Next time I might. I know I have heard of all the mole sauces originating in Oaxaca from when we visited my neice there!
http://www.fiery-foods.com/dave/moles.asp

[note: while on the subject of chocolate, has everyone seen the movie Chocolat with Johnny Depp?]

The carrots passed without any notice. My husband may be my pickiest eater, and there are many things he says he likes the flavor of, but can't stand the chunks (tomato, onion, celery). He says its a texture thing.

They did seem to notice a difference with the ground ostrich when I used it, but they couldn't put their finger on it. I blamed it on a new spaghetti sauce, which I also did really use because the store had been out of my regular. I've tried ground turkey...and they won't eat that. More spices and chocolate next time, and I will sneak it. They've always known before. Hmmm... the chocolate may help it look darker, like ground beef...lol.

Crazy, because my two older children who have flown the nest always ATE EVERYTHING and are very open to trying new foods. My youngest was great until she got sick and stopped eating, and it's been a struggle to get her to taste new things ever since.

Gosh... I'm thinking Soylent Green or Sweeny Todd here. It took a long time to stoop to deceiving, but my husband is just plain ridiculous about trying things. You should see his plate after he finishes a bowl of my soup, piled high with all veggies he dug out.

Cara

So...did you find the ostrich at your local Woodman's?

LOL Cara! My 6-year-old says this - I was hoping he'd outgrow it! One thing that works for him is to puree the whole soup, although this only works for "some" soups. Its amazing how pureeing everything together can change the taste!

Not at all if you every find a real upper class mexican resto (as opposed to the peon food which I love too) cacoa is used extensively.

I've been using cocoa in chili for a long time. I heard about it somewhere and finally tried it. I liked it! Sometimes I add a bit of cinnamon too. And you have to be careful because they're very hot, but I like chilis in adobo sauce in my chili.