LOL! It took me a lot of years to learn a very valuable lesson, never tell my husband or my stepson what is in something I have cooked for the family except for ingredients they absolutely love. Most of the time now, I just say thank you very much for whatever compliment they have given, and sometimes add “I try to please!”
Every time I have tried to tell them they have just eaten something they thought they didn’t like and loved it, they have then said something like, “Oh that was what tasted a bit off in the dish, next time leave it out and it will taste even better.” My husband and stepson have now eaten lots of vegetables and other foods in cakes, meatloaf, soups, casseroles, etc. that they never would have even tasted if I had cooked it separately. What they don’t know makes my cooking much easier and gets some extra vegetables in them from time to time! LOL!
I have the same problem with the wife, I no longer tell her about some things I put in what I’m cooking. She refuses to eat kale but has been eating it as salad and spinach for months and loves that new variety of lettuce and spinach I found. LOL
That reminds me of the story my sister-in-law and her husband told my (then) 7 year old nephew: I had baked some of my famous and very delicious oatmeal cookies as part of a housewarming gift to them (I’ll try to find the recipe and post it.) They told him they were broccoli cookies so he wouldn’t eat them and they could have them all to themselves. He always thought I really made broccoli cookies. True story, and it didn’t surprise me all that they did that.
Sometimes that is the only way to do it. :)