Cookbook author 'sneaks' nutrition into recipes by blending produce

SANTA MONICA (KABC) -- Cookbook author Missy Chase Lapine uses blended black beans, kale and blueberries in foods like pancakes, tacos and chocolate cake to sneak nutrition into tasty foods.

"I would never, ever, ever use kale in pancakes - I'm sorry. But today we did," said Drea Rewal of Simi Valley.

Rewal took an unusual cooking class, called "Sneaky Blends," at the Gourmandise School of Sweets & Savories in Santa Monica.

"If you tell someone, 'this is really healthy,' especially a kid or your husband, sorry but they don't want it," said Lapine, author of 'Sneaky Blends' cookbook series.

The seventh book in the series contains 15 different blends for over 100 recipes.

She started her career cooking for kids and realized adults appreciate blends, too.

"The moms of the kids, who grew up with me, were eating the blends and the purees straight up and finding they felt better than ever and they're getting their veggies and fiber in," claimed Lapine.

For the Gourmandise class, Lapine made a blend of frozen blueberries with baby kale and a can of black beans, which she put into veggie tacos, pancakes and flourless chocolate cake.

After you blend up your produce, Lapine says you don't want your blend look like soup or a smoothie, but rather the consistency of hummus.

The blends can be utilized in recipes as an ingredient or consumed as they are like a soup or smoothie.

"I make a blend a week. I make a color a week," Lapine said.

Recipes produce enough for three days in the fridge but can be frozen.

"I'm not a cook by any means. I have absolutely no kitchen experience. So to be able to come here and learn the techniques that Missy utilizes in her recipes was really cool," Rewal said.

But is it smart to be sneaky? Dietitian Rachel Beller says within reason, especially with kids.

"At a certain point, you want to make someone aware of it. Let them associate - you know, this isn't so bad," Beller said. "Letting them know what's really in there downstream after they really dig that food that you've snuck it into, that could be a good thing."