Curious, said Alice asked:
My little kids are picky eaters when it comes to eating vegetables. Anyone have tips or recipes with hidden vegetables in them? For example, adding ground carrots and celery to spaghetti sauce.
My little kids are picky eaters when it comes to eating vegetables. Anyone have tips or recipes with hidden vegetables in them? For example, adding ground carrots and celery to spaghetti sauce.
Thanks.
What’s with all the thumbs down? These are all great ideas. Thanks and keep them coming. If anyone has recipes, I really like to see them.
Create style…instantly.
A juicer and/or food processor works wonders.
Try making things like dumplings, the veggies in that can be cut into finer pieces, you could make a stew so the vegatables are mushy, and so they drink the important nutrients.
Add cheese to them
put ranch dressing on them
I hope you eat them too, that is a major reason kids do not eat vegies, if their parents aren’t modeling good eating habits. You have to start them from when they are babies, My kids eat almost anything. Thank goodness
Praise them for trying new things! This is a very important thing to do.
try many different kinds of vegetables, maybe you haven’t found the one they like?
cook them in butter, it is good for kids to have a certain amount of fat.
make the dish look inviting, even make it look cute like a smiley face or something.
Jerry Seinfeld’s wife Jessica was on Oprah a while back talking about her new cook book called “Deceptively Delicious”. It talks about how to puree healthy fruits and vegetables, and sneak them into regular kid food like macaroni and cheese or chocolate pudding. Oprah tried some of the food on her show and said you can’t even taste the veggies hidden in the food.
Soups and stews are a great way to load kids up on veggies. Another great way is in sheppards pie and chicken pot pie.
You can make a fruit smoothie and throw a couple vegtables in there. This works because the fruit flavor overpowers the vegetable flavor and you can only taste the fruit.
Hope this helps!!!
I usually make a big pot of pasta sauce, with chunks of courgettes ( zucchini), spinach, broccoli, and many more veggies. Than when they are cooked i put everything in a food processor and make a velvety tomato sauce ( what we call “passata” in Italy).
Or, i make fish or chicken patties, with mashed potatoes,leeks, greated carrots and zucchini.
Also you can hide veggies in meatloaf, in homemade tortellini or ravioli once you learn how to make pasta you can fill your ravioli with any mashed veggies. It’s much easier than it sounds, i promise!!
Shepards pie is great for that. You can add in ANY veggie pretty much & they’ll never know with the ground beef & cheese & mash potatoes occupying them. Most kids won’t eat it if they see it or don’t like the looks of it, so try stuffing them in pita pockets, Or you could put veggies on something they love, like broccoli on pizza.
•Grate or dice the vegetables and add them to chili, hamburgers and meat loaf.
•Don’t forget muffins and quick breads as vehicles for grated carrots and zucchini or mashed squash and sweet potatoes.
•Make your own pasta sauces by pureeing flavorful vegetables like red peppers. Kids who won’t eat plain cauliflower might eat pasta with cauliflower sauce. (Or, then again, they might not.)
•Kids love finger food, so serve small raw vegetable pieces with low-fat dips and salsas. (Or with that ever-popular kids’ dip, ketchup.)
•Sneak leftover vegetables into your child’s favorite soup.
•Melt cheese on top of vegetables before serving.
•Use wraps. Try mashing up beans, spreading them on a flour tortilla topped with grated cheese, rolling it and heating in the microwave. The result is a delicious, healthy lunch dish or snack disguised as a fast-food burrito.
One of my favorite recipes.
Sesame Chicken with Vegetable Dip
Ingredients
2 tbsp. good-quality barbecue sauce
2 tbsp. sesame seeds
1 tbsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. Cajun spice
3 skinned, boneless chicken ****** halves, cut into 2-by-1/4-inch strips
1/2 cup red peppers, coarsely chopped
1 cup cucumber, coarsely chopped
1 cup yellow squash, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup celery heart, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup fresh basil, coarsely chopped
2 cups regular or low-fat sour cream
Juice of one lemon
Directions
Whisk together the barbecue sauce, sesame seeds, oil and Cajun spice. Set aside.
Place all the chicken pieces inside a zip-top bag. With the smooth side of a meat mallet or the bottom of a saucepan, gently pound the chicken until flattened. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet and brush with the sauce.
Place in a preheated 375-degree oven and bake for 6 minutes. Turn, brush the other side with the sauce, and bake another 3 minutes. Remove and keep warm.
Meanwhile, combine the peppers, cucumber, squash, celery heart and basil in a food processor or blender. Process until the vegetables are finely chopped. Add the sour cream and lemon juice, then pulse until well blended.
Place the dip in a bowl centered on a serving platter. Brush the chicken one more time with the sauce, then arrange the chicken around the dip and serve. Makes 4 servings.
Good luck!
Grate carrots and zucchini into meatloaf.
Make lasagna with a vegetable layer (or grated into the meat sauce)
Add broccoli or tomatoes to macaroni cheese
Try raw vegetables with a healthy dip (when I was a kid I loved raw carrots and broccoli with white bean dip)
Make ‘cream’ soup – just cook any veges in stock and blitz till smooth – your kids will have no idea how many veges are in it.
Vegetables like carrots, celery and zucchini can be grated or pureed and added to lots of dishes.
V8 fusions are really good for adding veggies to their diet….
but,if you want your children to learn be a little less picky try letting them create there meals every now an then …packets are a great way to encourage them to eat different foods…lay out pieces of foil add a couple of chicken tenderloins and have a a variety of veggies to select from,thin sliced carrots& celery,diced onions,diced tomatoes…corn…peas…and let them each create there own packet and wrap it up for you to bake…
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I LOVE Lensybobs Ideas..very creative
I have found many things regarding bento box lunches. It is a really fun way of presenting food to children using special shapes, and is a Japanese tradition. There are many websites that provide recipes and techniques on cutting the food. dont be intimidated by how complicated they look they really arent. instead of telling my son to try the carrot i say hey take a bite of that flower ( carrot cut to look like a flower) or the piggy face ( shaped from a salmon sushi roll)
My mother always said to use an oversized plate with small portions that way they dont feel overwhelmed and mine usually go for thirds and think they are just packing it down!
Maybe involve them in the cooking (age permitting tasks) if they are a part of the process they might enjoy the success of making it by eating it in celebration, this works well with my niece.
My kids never liked broccoli until my mom made this for thanksgiving. Now they ask for it all the time.
Super Broccoli Casserole
2 boxes or 1 bag frozen, chopped broccoli, cooked and drained
2 eggs beaten
1 sml onion, minced
1 can cream of mushroom soup
¾ cup mayonnaise
1 cup grated cheddar, jack, or mozzarella cheese
1 cup cracker crumbs
¼ cup butter
Combine first 6 ingredients, add to buttered 9×11 casserole dish. Sprinkle with cracker crumbs and dot with butter. Bake at 350F for 1 hour.
This one uses tomatoe juice which my kids ****. They love this!
Porcupine Balls
1 egg
½ cup water
1 envelope lipton onion soup mix
1 ½ lbs lean ground beef
½ – ¾ cup uncooked minute rice
1 – 46 oz bottle of Campbell Tomato Juice
1 tsp sugar
Beat egg slightly with water and 2 tbs soup mix. Mix lightly with beef and ¼ cup of rice. Shape into large meatballs (1 ½ to 2 inches). Roll in remaining rice, pressing it lightly into the meatball. Use more rice if needed.
Heat tomato juice to boiling. Stir in remaining onion soup mix and sugar. Place meatballs in sauce and cover. Simmer, stirring several times for 50 minutes.
Serving suggestions: Great with a vegetable or salad and rolls.