I don't know if I've mentioned this or not, but I have high cholesterol. Despite all this working out and eating right (or trying to) that I've done over the past few years, that number is still slowly creeping up.

My doc said that it's a good thing I'm doing all this healthy stuff, or it would be a lot worse. Since I'm doing that, my blood pressure is good, my good cholesterol is great, and I can stay off the statins.

Nonetheless, I'm always trying to find ways to get it down. You know, like using olive oil, eating salmon, etc. etc. Well, another thing you're supposed to use is flaxseed oil. I think it has a sort of yucky, bitter taste.

The solution: sneak it in!

Yep, give some seeds a whirl in the coffee grinder, and they can go in just about anything. My favorites so far are steel cut oats (double score with that oat fiber) and pancakes. But recently I discovered another camoflage – hummus! If 4 cloves of garlic, lemon juice, and some red chili flakes can't disguise that flavor, nothing can.

Which brings me to one of my new favorite kitchen tools – the blender. It's a tool of convenience, and deceit. Besides hiding flaxseed in hummus, I've blended cooked sweet potatoes (fiber + beta carotene) for chili, cooked carrots for spaghetti sauce, black beans for brownies (no, really!), and white beans for a thickener.

I've heard that you can whir up some blueberries for your hamburger to make them juicier and healthier, but I haven't tried that one yet. My poor family has been subjected to more health foods than they could imagine.

But I don't feel too guilty about it. My motives are good.