Sneaky ways to give veggies?

My son hates veggies (daughter gobbles them right up). I keep giving it to him and he just takes his finger and "pops" or squishes it on his tray.

I thought maybe I'd give him some V8 fusion (fruit and veg juice...actually tastes great!) but my pedi said there is a ton of sugar in it and if I wanted to give it to him I should dilute it and only give occasionally or he might start to reject milk.

Any creative Mom's of toddlers out there that sneaks veggies in somehow? Do tell!

 

Cauliflower can be mashed like potatoes. Spaghetti sauce has tomatoes in it. Meatloaf can be 'laced' with veggies. Good luck! All my kids have always loved vegetables. Does he like sweet potatoes?

 

Cauliflower "mashed potatoes" are the best. I ahve a great recipe for them if you want it lmk.. Same for Sweet Potato french fries. We have a magic bullet so I add veggies to everything i can... Maybe some good dips will make a difference with raw veggies? Dip makes all the difference in this house

 

My easy go-to meal is some Ragu Light Alfredo sauce with some carrots and peas mixed in over some pasta. If you don't like giving them store bought sauces I think it would be a fairly easy sauce to make from scratch.

I too struggle with giving our LOs enough veggies. I get so sick of always giving them carrots and green beans out of a can! Which we do a lot of because they are easy finger foods (whereas they'll pick forever at corn and peas with their fingers, and don't know fully how to use utensils yet). One LO likes roasted sweet potatoes pretty good, the other doesn't. But they both seem to like sauteed squash and zucchini. But we only get squash/zucchini about once every week or two. So it seems like they eat the same veggies over and over.

 

Pancakes!!!! I grate veggies and put them in my normal pancake batter...everyone LOVES them. My oldest does put syrup on them which might cancel out any nutritional value :laughing:.

 

[quote name='E's 3' date='11 January 2011 - 08:36 PM' timestamp='1294796219' post='1746415']
Pancakes!!!! I grate veggies and put them in my normal pancake batter...everyone LOVES them. My oldest does put syrup on them which might cancel out any nutritional value :laughing:.
[/quote]
I used to make everything into a pancake! Do you give them eggs at all? Omelets have always been a big hit here, especially with a little cheese in them. You can put anything in them - spinach, mushrooms, even peas! I also made frittatas sometimes with shredded carrots or zucchini. I always sneak veggies into pasta sauces or even make pasta primavera with a sprinkle of parmesan (if my kids get to help sprinkle, they'll eat anything). And like PP said, dipping sauces work wonders. I would give them something harmless like plain yogurt or apple sauce and make a big deal about dipping the food into it. It was like a game and it got them eating carrot sticks, green beans, and eggplant sticks.

 

Does your son like fruit? Fruits and vegetables carry the same nutrients, so you can relax if he eats a lot of fruit. Nate hates just about every veggie, which drives me crazy sometimes because DH and I LOVE veggies, but we just offer him what we're eating plus extra fruit (which he loves), and he eats what he wants. I do try to put extra veggies in things like pizza sauce and spaghetti sauce, but Nate is the kid who can pick a spinach molecule out of a vat of sauce and say "what's that????".

Sweet potato fries are a big hit here. Both of my guys like soy sauce, so I can sometimes tempt them with zucchini, squash, or broccoli sauteed in olive oil and soy sauce. They both have recently learned to like matchstick carrots dipped in hummus! I've also been known to heat up a can of chicken noodle soup, drain the broth out of it, and serve the chicken, noodles, and veggies. Both of my boys like the tasty soup veggies.

I think your ped is right about the juice; there's a lot of added sugar, and not a lot of veggies. It's probably better to just give him real fruit so he can get the fiber as well as the other nutrients. :good: Just keep offering veggies, and eventually (maybe by the time he's 30 ) he'll eat them.

 

Have you seen the Sneaky Chef cookbooks? If you dont have time to make some of the purees, you can use baby food - my kids wont eat mac & cheese now without pureed carrots and sweet potatoes mixed in! She has some really good ideas.

 

Freeze dried veggies!

You've probably seen the freeze-dried apples by Gerber, right? You can get freeze-dried veggies too, of all kinds and our girls love them. Right now, they are eating peas and corn, but you can get almost anything online from stores that cater to camping enthusiasts, etc. Just google it.

(You can also find a much wider variety of fruits too - way beyond just apples and bananas.)

 

Wow, that's a really interesting idea! How do they taste? I think Jack would really like these because he LOVES food that crunches.

 

I personally think they are tasty and often munch along with the kiddos. The corn is very, very sweet. And the peas are tasty too. I've tried blueberries, but for me they seemed a little too intensely flavored in the dried form.

I just bought a few cans from this company:

Honeyville Grain

 

I saw a recipe online for homemade Mac and cheese with pureed butternut squash in it...it looked so good!

 

Hummus and Baba Ganoush on crackers are favorites here, along with seasoned black beans with melted cheese on top. Chili is also a hit. They'll eat beans in volume, and pick at the other veggies, but I keep on offering them. We do drained soup a lot too.

 

Jerry Seinfeld's wife, Jessica Seinfeld, has a cookbook out geared just towards this thing! It's called Deceptively Delicious, and it is all about sneaking veggies into everyday, easy to prepare foods for children!

 

There is a recipe for something called Veggie Fritters in the Annabel Karmel cookbook I just bought. I made them and they are delicious! It is a bit of work but you can make a lot at once and freeze them - it involves grating yams, squash and other veggies and combining with a couple herbs, bread crumbs and then frying them up in oil. PM me if you want the recipe. Also, PP talked about pancakes...we have cooked sweet potato into pancakes with yogurt and it is yummy. Also, homemade veggie dips and creamy soups are delicious and may bring out their curiosity.

 

I might be a little late on this topic but thought I would throw out another idea. I make eggplant lasagna with mushrooms once a week for the family. My toddlers LOVE it. They seriously gobble it down and usually ask for more (which they NEVER do with other food). It probably helps that it is covered in meat and cheese but we make sure to use lean meat and mozz cheese. Healthy and the whole family loves it...

 

I still buy canned sweet potatoes and carrots (baby food) and add it to their oatmeal in the morning since they seem to eat the best in the AM. My girls like Edemame which I found in the freezer section. Sometimes I have a mostly veggie meal to try to get them to TRY something. I try to give them their veggies FIRST then offer them the carbs and meat after say 15 mins. If they are hungry they might try something new.

V8 juice the odd time too -- the tomato juice kind. They love the small individual cans. yes too much sodium but oh well.

Heather

 

My girls all love raw carrots. And last summer I had a garden with tons of summer squash, so I cooked that and put it through the food processor. Mixed it into their Mac n Cheese. They loved it - didn't even notice the veggies in it because it is yellow and blended in well.

 

It is so funny the difference between pediatricians. My ped said the V8 juice was a great idea as long as we dilute it. She said it also better than giving them apple juice or grape juice. It is the only juice my girls will drink and they still love their milk. I just limit their intake. They are only allowed juice refills three times a day and we always do half juice and half water.

Also pp was right about the fruit being a good veggie substitute. My girls will eat fruit all day long, but the only veggies they will eat are brocolli and cauliflower in cheese.

My ped also told me to put the girls on a multi vitamin to guarantee they weren't missing anything.

Don't over stress on getting them to eat veggies. Some kids just won't do it until they get older.

 

I bulk up anything I make w meat but chopping the heck out of veggies that go w the meal... but that's for my 9yo haha. The boys will eat most things, they LOVE chilli, but pureed soups like cauliflower, broccoli, squash etc are always a hit!

 

Sprout makes stage three baby food which is basically regular food in a packet--there are lots of hidden veggies. They have lasagna w/ beef and veggies, butternut squash mac and cheese as well as some others. Avoid the turkey with mixed veggies--it's heavy on the garlic. We also buy HappyTots salmon sticks with hidden veggies. My girls love fish sticks so these work out when I don'tmind spending a little extra.