Picky Eaters: 3 Ways To Sneak In Veggies

Picky Eaters: 3 Ways To Sneak In Veggies 1 Daily Mom, Magazine For Families
As a parent, it can be so frustrating to have a picky eater on your hands. No matter what persuasive techniques you use, you just can’t get them to eat their veggies.
While it is so easy to stress out about whether or not they are getting the proper nutrition, try not to beat yourself up over it. Eventually their tastebuds will grow. Daily Mom has come up with three recipes for picky eaters to sneak their veggies in without them knowing!

Until then, keep offering them vegetables and a variety of new foods and in the mean time, try our techniques for sneaking in some healthy veggies into recipes they may already enjoy eating.

Now, before you start sneaking in the veggies, make sure you are still offering whole veggies to your little one regularly. One of these days they may just decide to try them out and like them on their own!

Smoothies & Popsicles

Picky Eaters: 3 Ways To Sneak In Veggies 2 Daily Mom, Magazine For Families

If you haven’t already tried offering your picky eater a smoothie, now is the time. Smoothies are a great way to provide nutrition in something your child sees as a sweet treat. Afterall, it is kind of like a milkshake! And, any smoothie can be put in a popsicle mold and frozen for an icy cold treat.

You can pretty much blend any combination of fruits together with a little bit of liquid and get a tasty smoothie. Add in a few mild vegetables like spinach, kale, and carrots and you have a powerhouse drink.

One of Our favorite smoothie combos:

  • Vanilla Greek yogurt
  • Frozen mixed berries
  • Banana
  • Kale
  • Carrots
  • Flax seed
  • A splash of apple juice

No need to measure! Just put in handfuls of each and add more liquid as needed to get a smooth consistency. You won’t need to add any ice if you are using frozen fruit, too!

We recommend serving your child their smoothie in a spill proof cup with a lid and straw like the Evenflo Zoo Friends Cup & Straw.  If the smoothie turns out a funky greenish-brown color, it helps to hide it in a fun, colorful cup.

Breads & Muffins

Picky Eaters: 3 Ways To Sneak In Veggies 3 Daily Mom, Magazine For Families

If your child tends to favor carbs (who can blame them?), consider cooking up a batch of homemade zucchini bread, carrot cake, or pumpkin muffins. In fact, you can easily find hundreds of low-sugar vegetable muffin recipes online. Turn any of them into a dessert for your little one by adding a smear of cream cheese frosting on top. You can feel good knowing that at least they are getting some additional nutrients at the same time.

Get started with our recipe for Cinnamon Zucchini Muffins.

Sauces

Picky Eaters: 3 Ways To Sneak In Veggies 4 Daily Mom, Magazine For Families

Does your child favor plain tomato sauce and noodles or are they more of the macaroni and cheese type? Either way, veggies can easily be hidden in any of their favorite sauces.

Tomato Sauce

Before heating your child’s favorite tomato sauce up on the stove, blend in some carrots, spinach, kale, zucchini, and/or mushrooms – whatever you have on hand! The sauce will maintain its smooth consistency while packing a hidden veggie punch. As long as you don’t add in too much green veggie, it will also maintain its red color.

Cheese Sauce

Consider adding in some cooked and pureed sweet potato, butternut squash, or pumpkin right into your regular cheese sauce recipe.  Or, if boxed macaroni and cheese is more your style, add it into that! If your kiddo likes it just as much as the plain cheese version, you won’t have to feel as guilty about serving mac n’ cheese all the time.

You can also hide veggies in meat recipes! Finely chop up mushrooms and add it to your taco or hamburger meat (kids won’t even notice!) or try our recipe for Hidden Veggie Meatloaf.

Photo Credit: Dreams To Do

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Ariel
Arielhttp://www.dreamstodo.com
Ariel is a working mom of two (expecting baby #3 next July!) who is married to her high school sweetheart. When she isn’t at the office or playing with her young kiddos, you can find her writing on her personal blog, Dreams To Do. Ariel is a lover of inspirational words, photography, coffee, reality TV, and of course, her family. You can connect with Ariel on Twitter and Facebook.

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