hiding veggies from the kids!

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felice03
felice03 Posts: 2,732 Member
in Food and Nutrition
so I have a pretty typical problem, my picky child doesn't eat her veggies. I do all the basic things to get her to eat some, sauces and such, but i need some new ideas. She is VERY clever about finding them and then the whole meal stops and she wont touch a thing. any ideas would be appreicated....

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  • rockylucas
    rockylucas Posts: 343 Member
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    My mother wouldnt let me eat anything else until I ate my veggies... I knew I would get no fish sticks, no mac and cheese, no dessert, etc, until I ate the brocolli... since I didnt want to starve to death, I suffered thru the veggies to get to the good stuff.
  • moprincess76
    moprincess76 Posts: 37
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    will she eat meatloaf?? hamburgers?? i ground up my veggies and hit them in the food that my kids would eat.. carrots, celery, ect.. i even threw in some cactus... they didnt know what they were eating.. but got their vtamins
  • Dtrmnd86
    Dtrmnd86 Posts: 406 Member
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    I've heard of some people pureeing carrots and putting them into the cheese fort mac and cheese. I haven't tried it though so I don't know how well it works. Or you could take her shopping and show her all the different fruits and veggies and have her pick some out she would like to try. maybe she'll be more willing to eat them if she is involved with picking them out and learning about them. My kids loving doing that at our local farmers market.
  • mommyfor3boys
    mommyfor3boys Posts: 16 Member
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    Have you tried offering with a dip? Or for like meatloaf I grind up, almost anything and put it in there.... celery, carrots, green peppers, and things they don't even know its all blended together. My middle son is the same way.. I put green beans on his plate reguardless of if he will eat them or not I make him try them at least everytime. But I know how you feel, my 1 year old I am starting off well he eats all kinds of veggies... I have learned after my other kids to start really young and my youngest LOVES fruit and veggies now.
  • Quiltmania
    Quiltmania Posts: 59
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    My mother wouldnt let me eat anything else until I ate my veggies... I knew I would get no fish sticks, no mac and cheese, no dessert, etc, until I ate the brocolli... since I didnt want to starve to death, I suffered thru the veggies to get to the good stuff.

    Are we related? My mother basically did the same thing. I learned early that you can swallow lima beans without chewing them. :)
  • bethvandenberg
    bethvandenberg Posts: 1,496 Member
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    I used to hide the veggies in spag sauce. I would use an immersion blender and blend them all in. I used cauliflower and squash generally... Maybe try some stuff along those lines...
  • ajbeans
    ajbeans Posts: 2,857 Member
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    My kids are enjoying veggies much more since we made the "one bite" rule. They have to try one bite of everything on their plate, and they get a small amount of everything on the table. There are exceptions: my daughter doesn't like anything cheesy, and neither one of them is comfortable with soups and casseroles, so I don't make them eat those things. But they've found some new favorites this way. They now love lima beans and baby spinach.

    Ask her why she doesn't like them. If it's a flavor thing, let her add some salt. If it's a texture thing, try preparing them in a different way.
  • adidrea
    adidrea Posts: 275 Member
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    Does she like smoothies? I recently started making one and adding 2-3 cups of spinach but it has such a subtle taste that it's undetectable when you blend it all together!

    This is what I put in it:

    1 banana
    1/2 cup of orange juice
    Frozen peaches
    1 Kiwi
    2 or 3 cups of spinach
    Optional: Fat free vanilla or plain greek yogurt (if you want protein)
    Optional: Sugar or sweetener
    Optional: Frozen berries (this will change the color from green to....brown-ish so be careful with those! The more you put in the more red it turns)

    Blend it all together and tadaah! The smoothie will be green unless you added the berries in which case it will sometimes have a weird color that doesn't look good but tastes fantastic! You can tell your little girl that the smoothie is banana-kiwi-peach which would explain the green color. Haha. It's hard to find vegetables in blended stuff.

    Hope this helps! :) Spinach is so healthy!

    Edit: This makes about 2 servings or one really big serving. The total calories is just a little over 200 for the whole thing.
  • PanteraGirl
    PanteraGirl Posts: 566 Member
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    mush cauliflower in mash potatoes...so good she won't notice the difference! i love it!
  • frugalmomsrock
    frugalmomsrock Posts: 1,123
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    Does she eat soup? I make every soup and chili the same way: with a base that is formed of onion, colored pepper (red, yellow, orange), carrots, celery, and garlic. I put it in the food processor so it's tiny little pieces. I don't use celery for chili...

    I use it for chicken noodle, chicken tortilla soup (beans, chicken, and corn added to it with broth; eaten with cheese and chips-kids love it), turkey chili, regular chili, black bean chili, skyline chili, beef n noodle soup, etc.
  • NiciS72
    NiciS72 Posts: 1,043 Member
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    Try this recipe. It's not too bad on calories and super yummy. Noone I know has yet to find the squash!

    http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/macaroni-and-4-cheeses-recipe2/index.html
  • bethvandenberg
    bethvandenberg Posts: 1,496 Member
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    My mother wouldnt let me eat anything else until I ate my veggies... I knew I would get no fish sticks, no mac and cheese, no dessert, etc, until I ate the brocolli... since I didnt want to starve to death, I suffered thru the veggies to get to the good stuff.

    Are we related? My mother basically did the same thing. I learned early that you can swallow lima beans without chewing them. :)

    so very funny...I had the opposite problem with my kids...eat your meat or you can't have any more veggies... LOL
  • wannabeinshapeSandie
    wannabeinshapeSandie Posts: 25
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    Have they prepared the vegies with you?

    Carrot roses: You take a vegie peeler and peel a long piece if flat carrot and roll it up and secure it with a tooth pick and put it in cold water in the fridge for a few hours... they are fun and good.

    celery fans: cut a stalk of celery into 3 inch lengths and slice several slices almost all of the way to the bottom, put into the water and let them sit for a few hours....they fan out. add peanut butter to dip those into.
    Frozen green pepper halves! mmmm good!
    Just an idea to help the kids enjoy vegies
  • JoLeeFA
    JoLeeFA Posts: 211 Member
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    Mashed Cauliflower is really good! My kids think I am giving them mashed potatoes!
  • JoLeeFA
    JoLeeFA Posts: 211 Member
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    [/quote]

    so very funny...I had the opposite problem with my kids...eat your meat or you can't have any more veggies... LOL
    [/quote]

    Funny - I have a boy who would live on fruit, if I would let him!

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