Ways to sneak veggies in?

[DisneyLovingMama]

DD5 hates vegetables and most other foods. I've let her get away with it for hte most part, but now I think I really need to get her to eat more healthy foods. Problem is, it becomes a war as soon as vegetables are mentioned. She'd rather not eat anything than even take the tiniest taste of a vegetable.

So, how can I sneak them in? I've thought about cooking things in vegetable broth, instead of water. That's about as far as I've gotten.

Any ideas? I just hate the idea of making an issue over food - isn't that really bad for her psyche?

 

[hucifer]

My mom used to throw veggies in the blender before adding them to soups and spaghetti sauce...we never knew they were in there.

 

[golfgal]

Dip! Carrots, celery, green peppers or what ever and a dip. My kids would eat anything that they could dip in something. My kids love veges though.

 

[Aidensmom]

Pizza with veggie toppings, burritos or wrap sandwiches (you can hide the veggies ), put them in spaghetti sauce, put shredded veggies in hamburgers and meatloaf. If you find a vegetable she doesn't mind, use it as much as possible (we have lots of green beans and raw baby carrots at our house).

 

[MamaLema]

I have 3 boys. 2 of them eat every vegetable there is, 1 of them eats NONE.

Some things that have worked for me are to cook carrots, puree them completely and mix them in with spaghetti sauce. As long as you don't over do it, they won't notice.

Steam cauliflour, puree it and mix it in the mashed potatoes.

Another trick you can do is serve the vegetables. Then when your kids complain say "Fine, then just eat half and I'll be happy" (But of couse you give them double the serving)

I'm such a sneaky mom

 

[Disney_1derland]

Another fan of pureed veggies in pasta sauce! Did this when the girls were toddlers and the NEVER knew. My kids are also wild about dipping so I've made pureed veggies into ketchup and let them dip their chicken or whatever in it. they never batted an eye. I also shredd into tiny bits raw veggies of different colors and keep them in the fridge (celery, carrots, anything firm enough to be shredded). We call it confetti and my kids LOVE to sprinkle it on their food. They have no clue what it is and the bits are tiny enough they don't have a clue that it's veggies. Their current favorite is peanut butter sandwhich with 'confetti' sprinkled on the peanut butter. They are weird, but concocted that recipe themselves. You can also hid veggies in smoothies masked with the taste of fruit.

My 3 year old is a snacker. She wants to snack from the time she gets up till the time she goes to bed. To quell the snack monster I emptied the bottom drawer in the fridge and refilled it with raw veggie snacks. Carrots with ranch dip, celery and peanut butter, cucumbers and ranch, broccoli and cauliflower with creamoose(our own concoction that is cream cheese mixed with brown mustard-don't ask, it's good but weird, I know!). Whenever she asks for a snack I tell her to look in the bottom drawer. The first few days it was tough, she was NOT happy about it but now, a month into it she actually asks for the veggies instead of the junk. Before this she would ONLY eat them if I hid them.

Good luck finding something that works for your daughter!

 

[justhat]

I agree with the above of pureeing them and sneaking them into pasta sauce (and we also do with when we make pizzas, instead of using just pizza sauce we throw in pureed carrots too). Also, not sure what she eats for breakfast, but with my daughter she likes oatmeal so when I make it I throw in half a jar of baby food sweet potatoes. They're sweet so she doesn't notice the difference and she gets a vegetable in that she otherwise wouldn't eat all day.

 

[Disney_1derland]

Steam cauliflour, puree it and mix it in the mashed potatoes.

Forgot about this one! My kids LOVE the Atkins recipe for mashed cauliflower. WE call it Loaded potatoes!

STeam cauliflower until fairly mushy, mix in small amount of butter and sour cream and bacon bits and smash it! Will be the consistency of mashed potatoes. They love this one especially with a little cheese on top.

 

[disneyfam]

Spinach and beet cupcakes.

Here is a recipe from the book "It worked for me". These cupcakes are AWESOME. You absolutely cannot taste the spinach and beets. Even when you taste the raw batter. I usually do not put icing on the cupcakes and the kids are none the wiser.

10 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
16 ounces beets, drained
1 (18 1/4 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
16 ounces vanilla frosting or chocolate frosting

1. Lightly grease 18 regular-size muffin cups.
2. In a food processor, puree spinach and beets until smooth.
3. Prepare cake mix as directed, except use 4 eggs instead of 3.
4. Add pureed spinach and beets to cake mix.
5. Fill muffin cups to the top with batter.
6. Bake 22-25 minutes at 350 degrees F, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Cool completely before frosting with vanilla or chocolate frosting.

Cynde

 

[Freyja]

Dip! Carrots, celery, green peppers or what ever and a dip. My kids would eat anything that they could dip in something. My kids love veges though.

I second that! DD 3 loves anything with a dip and loves to dip baby carrots, paprika and cucumbers into anything (sour cream or even just plain ketchup).
My kids are quite good at eating greens. I try to have as many things available as possible and then let them pick, telling them they have to pick at least 2.
For example when I make grilled chicken with veggies, I use mushrooms, paprika, zucchini, corn and sometimes onion. They are allowed to pick one type of veggie out and not eat it, but the rest has to go down.

Works for us!

 

[Disney_1derland]

My brain cells are being eaten, so please excuse the multiple posts! With dd#1 we had the problem of not eating veggies and it wasn't until she got older and could explain that she doesn't really like cooked veggies. She likes them cold and raw. Now we just feed her raw veggies and all is well! Maybe your dd has a preference and just doesn't know it They get into the 'I hate veggies' mode and their little minds are closed to trying anything new.

 

[toto2]

I put steamed spinach everiwhere: spagutty sauce , soups etc

 

[barkley]

my son would say he does'nt like veggies-but given the situation he actualy eats quite a few. if he eats nachos he will put salsa (tomatos, onion, bell pepper) and olives on them, if offered a baked potato he will put broccoli underneath the cheese sauce, if picking toppings for pizza he will add mushrooms. he is also a HUGE hamburgar helper fan (which i can add chopped tomatos and other veggies to without him noticing). for him they are not veggies in this format-just something that goes with the food.

if your dd likes guacamoli check the local supermarket to see if they carry "broccamoli" (tastes the same, made with broccoli-much lower in fat and calories).

p.s. the veggie broth is a good idea-you can use it in most anything that calls for water, in fact i use it in place of oil for making pasta sauce, sautee items-but get low sodium it's much healthier.

are there any veggie dishes she will eat on special occasions (green bean casserole or yams w/marshmellows)-i make these on a regular basis (but do a lower calorie/lower fat version) to encourage veggie eating.

with spring approaching she might enjoy planting and eating her own "crops"-my dd got turned on to sqush and japanese eggplant this way (and ds WILL eat cherry tomatos if he can pick them himself-so we let him "graze" while playing in the backyard).

 

[tw1nsmom]

There are lots of good ideas here. I agree with everyone who's said to put the veggies out as snacks and see if she grazes on them. I also hide veggies in muffins. I make pumpkin muffins with extra pumpkin, so that one has a full serving of vegetables. I also make "Green Monster Bread" (zucchini bread).

 

[foolishmortal]

maybe I'm just simple but how about juice, like a v8 or smoothie.

 

[YourMajesty]

I have 3 boys. 2 of them eat every vegetable there is, 1 of them eats NONE.

Some things that have worked for me are to cook carrots, puree them completely and mix them in with spaghetti sauce. As long as you don't over do it, they won't notice.

Steam cauliflour, puree it and mix it in the mashed potatoes.

Another trick you can do is serve the vegetables. Then when your kids complain say "Fine, then just eat half and I'll be happy" (But of couse you give them double the serving)

I'm such a sneaky mom

I use a version of this if I'm just wanting to get the kids to try something. First I wait for them to complain and refuse to eat it. Then I tell them thier only choice is to eat one bit or the whole serving. They get that bite in quick!

Remeber too while you are working on vegies that fruits have many of the same nutrients you are trying to get in the vegies. If you are shooting for the five a day...four fruits and one vegie works just as well for most.

I use dips a lot but remember to get low fat sour cream or dressings...unless your kids needs to gain weight.

 

[elismom]

I ran a daycare for 10 years and one way I could always get the little ones to eat veggies was to put them out on the table while you are getting lunch or dinner ready I also took them to the park as snacks.
They would be hungry from playing and if that was all I had with me they would eat them .
Carrot and green or red pepper sticks my kids also liked having peanut butter to dip there veggies in (or apple slices are good to dunk in P.B also)

 

[puffkin]

Put some shredded cheese on them. As long as your kids aren't eating tons of cheese (or other fattening dairy products) elsewhere, it will help them eat their veggies and be and extra serving of calcium.

If your kids like them, casseroles and omelets might work too. Just chop up the veggies so they are really fine and harder to pick out.

 

[WIcruizer]

Just chop up the veggies so they are really fine and harder to pick out.

Kids have a way of being able to spot microscopic bits of veggies in their food. "What's that GREEN thing?!?!?"

So I just believe hiding it isn't the answer. Somehow they have to learn to like them. I think dips, cheese, etc. are a good way to do that. Or, there's nothing wrong with laying down the law. Ea tyour vegetables or there wil be no dessert...snacks...TV...whatever it is that will get their attention.

 

[LuvTigger]

One of my friends cooks veggies in chicken broth. She also puts melted cheese over veggies for her kids.

I remember when I was a kid I used to like celery with peanut butter on it.

If you make hamburgers, you can chop veggies up really fine and put quite a bit in the mixture. I think there's a Weight Watchers recipe, where just about half of the mixture is veggies, and it's really tasty! I was quite surprised.

Ditto sneaking things into spaghetti sauce, or chili. The sauce masks the taste.

Ooh, another thing is wrapping veggies in bacon, like mushrooms or asparagus. If you want to keep it lean, you could use turkey bacon.

And Caesar salad. I know people who hate vegetables, but love Caesar salad because of the taste of the dressing.