(Are you looking to get your kids to eat veggies without a fight? This is my review of The Sneaky Chef brand pasta and pasta sauces which contain hidden veggies, and the no-nut peanut butter made completely tree nut free. We were provided with complimentary samples of these products to facilitate this review. Our opinions are 100% our own!)
Picky kids. Desperate moms.
Before having kids, I was convinced I’d be a parent who could get my kids to love veggies and other good-for-you foods right away as infants, and then they’d just grow up to eat well. I figured as a mom I’d have the power to get my kids to do what was best for them.
HA!
Since my kids were toddlers, I’ve been struggling to get them to eat nutritious foods. It’s been hard because there are so many sugary and not-so-healthful options for kids nowadays, and it’s hard to keep kids away from them. So I’ve been looking for ways to get them both interested in eating well, and getting nutrition in them however possible.
That’s why I was excited to hear about The Sneaky Chef food products which are NEW.
Created by New York Times bestselling author Missy Chase Lepine, the Sneaky Chef brand is a series of books, foods and other products created to “sneak” good-for-you ingredients into a wide variety of foods with delicious results.
Missy “swaps out” the “bad” for the “good” with the mission to get kids to “eat veggies tonight without a fight.”
For over 6 years, she has offered tips and recipes that do just that, like a Guacamole that has a puree of PEAS & SPINACH in it. She makes chocolate brownies with a puree of SPINACH & BLUEBERRIES. Plus “mac & cheese muffins” that are packed with sweet potatoes and carrots!
Now, in addition to offering great recipes, the Sneaky Chef now offers foods you can buy at the supermarket:
We tried these Sneaky Chef products:
- Whole Grain Veggie Elbows
- Whole Grain Veggie Spaghetti
- Cheesy Red, Smooth Red and Turkey Meat Pasta Sauces
- No-Nut Creamy Peanut Butter (available in full-size jar and Grab & Go individual cups)
One night I made a spaghetti dinner with the veggie spaghetti and smooth red pasta sauce, and it looked and cooked like any other spaghetti and pasta sauce. The spaghetti cooked white so picky kids (and grown-up) who don’t want anything but white pasta will be none the wiser! The best part is that it tasted great and my family couldn’t tell there were 6 hidden veggies in the pasta and 8 hidden veggies in the sauce!
My husband teased “I don’t know…I’m kind of wary of something with the name ‘sneaky’ on the box.”
Guess what? He had two full plates of it.
The nutrition in the pasta itself is impressive. Here’s a picture I took of some ordinary whole grain pasta we had in the house (left) next to the Sneaky Chef veggie pasta (right). Check out all the vitamins and minerals in the Sneaky Chef brand that the ordinary brand didn’t have! The winner is pretty clear here.
We also tried the “No-Nut Butter.” This is a peanut butter substitute for all of those with nut allergies.
I was wary because it was made from golden peas and I couldn’t imagine how golden peas could taste like peanut butter. But when I tried it I was amazed! It was actually REALLY good. So I made some toast with no-nut butter and jelly and shared it with Thor who also loved it (Thor and I are the peanut butter lovers in our house.)
Then I thought about bringing the no-nut butter to my son’s daycare. His daycare is a nut-free facility, and parents are always being reminded to NOT bring anything into the daycare that has been exposed to tree nuts. Treats for birthdays, foods in lunches…EVERYTHING has to be nut-free because of several kids who have nut allergies.
The staff gave the ok because the Sneaky Chef No-Nut Butter is completely nut-free, so I took pictures while the staff and preschool-aged kids tried it for the first time.
The director told me right away about how good it was, and then the other staff said they were amazed that it tasted just like peanut butter! They were thrilled and gave the kids crackers and the no-nut butter on spoons. Then the kids shared their thoughts.
It turned out that most of the kids LOVED it. Several wanted second helpings. A staff member took a poll of who liked it and out of 20 kids, all but a few hands went up. Those that didn’t raise their hands actually were just hesitant to try it, refusing to believe that it really was nut-free!
The Sneaky Chef foods are available online and at grocers like Lund’s and Byerly’s. I found them at Byerly’s and though the prices were a little higher than for other similar products, considering how unique and nutritious the Sneaky Chef products are, the extra cost is worth it. The pasta sauces, for example, were $3.99 per jar and the no-nut butter was $7-8.
I HIGHLY recommend the Sneaky Chef foods for your entire family. Everyone – the best and the worst eaters – will enjoy them. Almost every family has at least one picky eater and I’m positive these foods would be a hit! Learn more on the Sneaky Chef website.
Share below if you got your kids to eat their veggies without a fight!