Picky Eater Needs Healthier Alternatives

akavisa

My 5 yr old was just diagnosed with an emotional disorder. In researching his disorder I found some of the chemical imbalance can be caused by processed foods. My little Wild Man is an extremely picky eater. Vegetables are almost impossible. Meal time is often a battle I lose. Therefore, I am looking for healthier versions of some of his favorites. Trying to cut back on gluten and food coloring to start. Recipes that have hidden vegetables would be AWESOME.

eugenia94102

Try socca (it's essentially a baked chickpea flour, it looks like a pizza) topped with tomatoes and cheese. Dosa (Indian rice and lentil crepe) filled with mashed potatoes/cauliflower/peas. You can also make sweet treats using carrots and parsnips. My kids never ate a chocolate cake that did not have beets in it. It would be helpful to understand what type of pick eater your child is. Does he focus on "color" ("there is a green on my plate"!) or on texture? What is his favorite food?

akavisa

he can spot vegetables a mile away. especially the green ones. He is a mac n cheese, tomato soup, hot dog, cheeseburger, type kid. In the mornings it has become basically cereal. It used to be only oatmeal. Now I struggle to get him to eat oatmeal. We dont do soda, very rarely chips, and other snacky foods. He likes granola bars, string cheese, cheese and crackers, basic lunchbox snacky foods. I have replaced our standard pancakes with buckwheat pancakes. Looking for other waffle recipes as I prefer to make homemade then the Leggo type brands. He definitely loves his breakfast foods.

akavisa

sometimes I can substitute spaghetti squash for regular spaghetti but he cant see me cook it or he wont touch it. Vegetables have to be beyond recognizable. he loves tomato soup

eugenia94102

Loving tomato soup is a great start! Tomatoes can mask lots of flavors (onions, celery, carrots, peas) You can add red roasted peppers (I use the jar ones) to it before you blend - it won't mask the flavor, but it's a great combination. Try carrot soup with a touch of ginger. You can invert the squash, i.e., serve him regular spaghetti with roasted winter squash sauce (blend it with sauteed onions and tomatoes or granny smith apples - taste the apple make sure is not too sweet). Both "King's Arthur Flour" and "minimalist baker" websites have good gluten free breakfast recipes. I can tell you that my pick eaters (who are now all grown-up) open up to green foods only when they got involved in producing some: I planted some supermarket scallions (with roots) in vases and once it was growing gave the vase to the kids. Then every meal I would ask if they wanted some of the "green" in the food. I think that feeling of control over that one green let curiosity get the best of them and eventually they said yes. That opened the floodgates of "green". I'm also going to repeat to you one of the best advices any doctor ever gave me, which avoided many meal times conflicts back then. "Remember that the only kids that really go hungry are the ones that don't have what to eat". Good luck!

akavisa

I had garden beds a couple springs ago. They feel by the wayside with other things going on. Now that I own my business and work from home I can designate more time and am in the process of cleaning them out to attempt getting them going again. With his new diagnosis they say to keep him engaged in household activities. He already enjoys helping me cook, swap laundry, wash dishes, and LOVES feeding our chickens and collecting the eggs.

akavisa

Thank you so very much for the website references Eugenia! I will definitely check them out.

ClubSilencio

Green smoothies become purple if you add enough blueberries.

Theoretically, this could have a handful of kale in it. He'll never know it.



Bananas, spinach or kale, and frozen blueberries. Something like chia seeds would be a nice addition since he has an emotional disorder. Improves brain function and mood.

akavisa

thank you so much Club Silencio!!

jenlowlow

I'm not sure if you have heard of Annie's Organic or if it's available in your area, but they sell an organic gluten free mac and cheese that my nieces love. It's still processed but a better alternative than Kraft

helent954

I have two boys under 4 that go through phases of what they will or won't eat. I make this hidden veg sauce a lot as both mine love pasta and it freezes beautifully: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1508645/pasta-with-tomato-and-hidden-veg-sauce I don't add the sugar, and you could add more chopped tomatoes if that's his favourite. My two love pancakes and I make big batches of blueberry pancakes and then freeze them, the only ingredients are eggs, flour (half white, half wholemeal), milk and a little melted butter. You can make them with or without blueberries. Let me know if you want the recipe although sounds like you might already have the pancakes sorted.

giovanna8830

Pasta of legumes (lentils...peas.......)gluten free

CafeRacer808

ClubSilencio wrote: »

Green smoothies become purple if you add enough blueberries.

Theoretically, this could have a handful of kale in it. He'll never know it.



Bananas, spinach or kale, and frozen blueberries. Something like chia seeds would be a nice addition since he has an emotional disorder. Improves brain function and mood.

This. Blackberries and raspberries also do a great job changing the color of a green smoothie.

jenemite

We also eat Annie's Mac and cheese as someone else suggested. Still processed but less dyes and fake ingredients. I steam broccoli until it's very soft then stir it into the Mac and cheese. My 2 year old loves it and since the broccoli is so tiny it doesn't bother her. I also try to blend an avocado and mix that in too but I can only do a little bit or she will notice and wont eat it.

She also loves frozen banana blended with milk and sometimes I add peanut butter or pitted dates.

SLLeask

Does he like spaghetti bolognese? If so, you can make an easy homemade tomato sauce and then blend any cooked veggies (carrots go really well) into the sauce.

Francl27

I don't understand why people assume that 'cutting down' on gluten is going to do anything. Either your kid is intolerant to it, or he's not. If he's not, cutting down won't change a thing, and if he is, cutting down won't be enough.

ashleighs148

Frozen bananas with a little water in the blender gives a soft-serve ice cream texture, I add in some frozen mixed berries to make it taste nicer too as I'm not a big banana fan. May need to blend a little at a time depending on how good your blender is. If you look up "nice cream" on youtube you'll find lots of "fake" ice-cream recipes which are all fruit.

MrsSuperDW

Try homemade veg soup, but call it 'the room on the broom soup' you can say it's the witches favourite soup.
Homemade chicken nuggets/fingers/pieces he can help make them.
Jacket potato with beans
Try inventing names for dishes that link to his favourite things, usually works a treat

SueSueDio

I haven't been through these recipes so I'm not sure how many might be suitable for your circumstances, but check out these websites:

http://www.popsugar.com/moms/Recipes-Hide-Vegetables-31898056#photo-31898056

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/best-hidden-veg-recipes-kids

Also, this cookbook might be helpful to you:

https://www.amazon.com/Deceptively-Delicious-Simple-Secrets-Eating/dp/006176793X

Good luck!

nicola1141

Agree with some of the deceptively delicious, etc. recipes for hiding veggies. For me, though, no matter how much I blended up the veggies there were always lumps, etc. that could be detected. I've taken to buying baby food. Plain veggies, but they're blended completely smooth so they hide perfectly. Carrots hide very well in a lot of stuff. I bet you could hide a jar of baby-food carrots in either tomato soup or mac & cheese.

akavisa

Thanks everyone! I have also been told about the website skinnytaste.com and I've pulled a couple of her recipes to try. At this point I'm just making him eat at least one spoonful of whatever veggies I happen to cook with dinner. The struggle is slowly fading. Meal time is still at least an hour long. LOL