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How to get kids to eat vegetables… it’s a thing!
Not for all kids, some will wolf down vegetables and not bat an eyelid, but most kids I know aren’t so keen. So how do we get kids to eat vegetables?
I wasn’t big on vegetables myself as a child, boiled new potatoes with their skin on *shudders*, led to many an hour sat staring at my plate waiting for my mum’s willpower to give out before mine.
So I have total empathy for M and her wanting to swerve vegetables.
But in the meantime I need to try my best to get lots of vegetables into her daily diet.
Especially since the latest nutritional health edict is that we should be aiming for ten-a-day, rather than five-a-day.
Hidden Vegetables!
The good news, I have discovered is there are a zillion and one ways you can easily hide vegetables in kids’ food.
If your kids are fellow vegetable refuseniks here are some super useful tips on feeding picky eaters but whilst you work on those, this list of top tips will get them to eat their greens everyday …
Easy Tips to Get Kids to Eat Vegetables Daily
- Blend spinach or broccoli into really cheesey sauce & serve with pasta, lasagne etc
- Blend milder green veg e.g. peas, leeks into white sauce & serve with fish or white meat
- Blend small amounts of cooked spinach into strong garlicky pesto
- Blend home-made smoothies of yoghurt, banana & orange juice with fruit of choice
- Bought smoothies aren’t cheap but can be reliable way to get vit c & fibre in daily
- Grate apple, mash banana or zest orange into muffin mixture – keeps bits very small
- Make savoury muffins with e.g. blended red onion, carrot, spinach, red pepper
- Hide loads of veg in a blended slow cooked tomato sauce for pasta or chilli or as ketchup
- Make a mild curry sauce with loads of veg blend roughly & stir in some yoghurt
- Very finely grate or blend vegetables into burger mixture
- Add blended veg or very finely grated veg e.g. courgette into scones
- Finely grate apple into everything from cakes to cheese on toast – but keep it fine
- Carrot cake with very finely grated carrot and e.g. zested orange or mushed pineapple
- Banana cake a great option if child won’t eat bananas whole
- Chocolate cake with pureed beetroot or grated courgette
- Banana custard either proper custard or custard power & milk blended with banana
- Soups thick well blended veg soups that big chunks of bread can be dipped in
- Frozen fruit sorbet blend any fruit you like with orange juice & syrup of sugar & water
- Blend some quickly fried up mild veg e.g. courgette into cream cheese
- Make crisps/chips from roasted veg e.g. beetroot, parsnip, sweet potato
- Smuggle some parsnips cut to identical size in with the potato chips
- Veg pureed with crème fraiche as a dip
- Blend a few very well cooked carrots into gravy
- Blend some red peppers in with thick houmous
- Let them dip carrot or cucumber sticks into dollops of ketchup
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city
Tuesday 9th of October 2012
thanks for sharing..
Alice Thompson
Saturday 18th of August 2012
Oooh the pakoras sound good!
Glad you like the blog - likewise! If you've got some lists in you and fancy a guest blog do give me a shout.
Mummy Zen
Saturday 18th of August 2012
You really are right about them not eating what you ate when pregnant! I also find they eat a particular vegetable early on when they are at the puree stage but when they are a toddler, they won't touch it. I had a vegetable victory recently with cauliflower. I made cauliflower pakoras (with gram flour) and my son loved them. This week I made a cauliflower cheese and he wouldn't touch it!
Thanks for your comment on my post via Britmums and glad I came across your blog, it's great!