Getting Kids to Eat Their Veggies

Kids who eat veggies from a young age are more likely to continue eating them later. Make veggies a part of everyday diet from the time kids first begin eating solid foods. Cooked veggies can be mashed and pureed for the very young and used as finger foods for toddlers. There are many tips and tricks for getting kids to eat their veggies. Here's advice from a seasoned parent.

Don't Make Eating Veggies a Big Deal
Stay away from veggie food wars. Be happy about the ones they eat. Keep trying with the ones they don't. The more of an issue it becomes, the less likely they are to eat them. Let them decide at their own pace and don't make a big deal when something is left on the plate. Maybe they just weren't hungry.

Let Them Help
Letting kids help in the kitchen is a great way to get them to eat their veggies. Kids love to create. Give them a chance to experiment with different ingredients. Let them add nuts, raisins, dried cranberries and other treats to salad. They are sure to at least try their own creations.

Make Them Sound Scrumptious
Never make veggies sound like a dirty word. Talk about them like they are the most delectable thing ever. Experiment with unique items like spaghetti squash. This veggie cooks up and shreds into vegetable noodles for spaghetti. Make eating veggies fun for kids.

Add to Soup
Kids who really hate their veggies may require a few more sneaky tactics. Try pureeing cooked veggies in the blender. Add them to soups. Kids eat their veggies because they can't see them. This works especially well for carrots, peas and tomatoes. Add pureed veggies to sauces too.

Mash With Potatoes
Mashed potatoes are one vegetable kids usually like. Pump up the volume of mashed potatoes by adding turnips, carrots, spinach or any other veggies to the mix. Just cook them and mash them right in. Make it a game. Ask them to try a bite of your food experiment to see if they can tell what's in it.

Make a Smoothie
You can make delicious smoothies and juices by combining fruits and veggies. Use frozen berries, yogurt, cooked carrots and juice to make ice cream in the blender. Kids will eat the hidden veggies with no protests. Mixing veggies with fruit makes them sweet and irresistible.

Turn Them Into Dessert
Add pureed veggies to all kinds of desserts. They will disappear into the sweet goodness. Use veggies of the same color as the fruit to really pull this off. Beets with berries and sweet potatoes with pumpkin
are particularly good taste combos. Banana bread with nuts and zucchini squash is a hit with most kids.

Make Chips
Make colorful salted chips from all kinds of veggies. Sweet potatoes are especially tasty. Serve them with dip and no kid can resist them. Even carrot curls can be deep fried and salted. Sure, this isn't the most nutritious way to eat your veggies. Look at it this way, at least they are eating them.

Cover them With Yummy Cheese
Make up a nice batch of gooey homemade cheese sauce and smother those veggies. Try adding spinach to cheesy, saucy Italian favorites like lasagna and stuffed shells. Kids will eat their greens just to get at the cheese and noodles. I'm getting hungry thinking up all these ways to get kids to eat their veggies!

Source:

Personal Experience