When Veggies = I don’t like it mom! What kids do not know will truly help them! I was fortunate to have two boys who loved veggies. Perhaps that was the result of feeding them every veggie imaginable as soon as table food was appropriate.
As the boys became social, our house then became “the neighborhood hang-out”. As such, frequent dinner guests resulted along with lots of experience with veggie haters. As I recall the most common complaint was canned vegetables. On more than one occasion, different children and teens told me fresh steamed vegetables tasted nothing like the canned vegetables their family ate. Outside of beans, fresh or frozen vegetables were the only type I served.
While I’m no child professional these tips and tricks helped to entice kids to each veggies.
Require them to eat new vegetables
Offer one tablespoon-
1) With explanation, “You have to eat one spoonful. If you like these as much as I do you can have another serving.”
2) With consequences, “You have to eat one serving or no dessert.”
Mask or Enhance the flavor
1) Steam fresh veggies and serve in a cheese sauce
2) Serve salads with fresh fruits and vegetables
3) Add diced vegetables to yellow or brown rice
4) Serve vegetables with condiments like sour cream, BBQ sauce, or honey mustard. Let them choose the vegetable and the condiments. My niece always chose the BBQ!
Make Veggies Fun to Eat
1) Serve celery sticks filled with peanut butter or cream cheese and jelly
2) Serve raw veggies with dipping sauce at dinner to exemplify a fun snack appeal.
Sneaky Alternatives
1) Prepare fruit smoothies and add veggies – The easiest to hide are spinach, kale, chard, romaine, and carrots.
2) Add white vegetables such as turnips, cauliflower and parsnips to mashed potatoes.
Vegetables are a vital element for a healthy and happy body. In addition to being packed with essential nutrients, minerals, and antioxidants a diet rich in vegetables and fruits:
- Lowers blood pressure
- Reduces risk of heart disease, and stroke, as well as eye and digestive problems
- Helps level blood sugar
- Can help keep appetite in check.
Let’s all do our part to entice those kiddos to eat their veggies!
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Peas and Thank You is a collection of recipes and stories from a mainstream family eating a not-so-mainstream diet. It’s filled with healthy and delicious versions of foods we’ve all grown up enjoying, but with a Mama Pea twist—no meat, lots of fresh ingredients and plenty of nutrition for growing Peas. From wholesome breakfasts to mouth-watering desserts, there’s plenty here to satisfy the pickiest Peas in your life. It’s easier than ever to whip up crowd-pleasing meals that will have the whole family asking for, “more, Peas.” Sarah Matheny’sdelicious recipes and entertaining stories draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to her blog, peasandthankyou.com each month, where she makes raising a vegetarian family easy and fun. She is the author of “Peas and Thank You: Simple Meatless Meals the Whole Family Will Love.”
I think the canned vegies is a huge part of it. I eat corn and green beans canned. Nothing else. Really, mush peas, or not mushy? Lol, frozen wins EVERY time.:) Some awesome ideas…maybe I’ll sneak vegies into my husbands smoothie…see if he notices.:)
Kathy, I totally agree with your approach to always have your children try a spoonful of vegetables to introduce them to new tastes. My two children are healthy adults now but this is a tactic I used with them when they were small and it worked. Eventually, they grew to like vegetable. I also found that as they grew older, engaging them in preparing the vegetables for their meals helped make them more eager to eat them.
My boys are grown now as well Sherryl. I remember wait staff being amazed that our two year old enjoyed the house salad!
Kids assisting with meals is a great point. When kids help in the kitchen they not only develop a greater appreciation for a variety of foods but also gain self confidence and self-sufficiency as well.
Fresh veges are better though! Those parents must not like the conflict you brought into their homes 🙂