Sneaky Joes and Dilly Dip

I honestly have avoided this recipe for years, and then one day I looked it over and thought it sounded good, so I made it and it was a hit! Again, it's from Food for Tots. The reason I never made it was because I have never wanted to "sneak" my kids any food, so the title went against everything I stood for. Low and behold I was craving meat and barbecue sauce one day so I swallowed my pride and tried this little number:

1 cup bottled barbecue sauce

1 1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef, chicken, or turkey

1 small onion, chopped*

6 hamburger buns

1. Put barbecue sauce into a blender or food processor.

2. Add mixed vegetables a little at a time and blend until smooth.

3. In a frying pan cook meat and onion over medium heat until partially done.

4. Stir in sauce mixture, cover the pan and simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently until meat is thoroughly done.

5. While meat simmers, butter the hamburger buns and toast them lightly under the broiler.

6. Spoon meat mixture into buns and serve.

Yield: 6 sandwiches

*If you haven't discovered chopped frozen onion, give your freezer section a try! It makes meal starts so easy!

I serve these Sneaky Joes up with baby carrots, cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes, whatever is around really! My kids love veggies! We also like to make Dilly Dip for them:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon dill weed

1/2 teaspoon Bon Appetit (or 1/4 teaspoon parsley flakes & 1/8 teaspoon salt)*

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and stir them until they're blended.

*I've always used the parsley and salt and it works great!

-Dilly Dip is also a favorite of ours to pair with homemade pizza and veggies... we found that dipping our pizza in it adds a whole new dimension of flavor!