So I have two kids, a 3 year old who will pretty much eat anything and a very picky 19 month old. I never know if he is going to eat what I make for dinner and the only veggies he will eat are steamed carrots and sweet potatoes. I sometimes puree veggies to hide them in dishes but that's a lot of work sometimes. I am very basic with the veggies I make, steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, green beans and have just started steaming sweet potatoes. But my toddler just won't eat them! So I am looking for some veggie recipes that I can give a try, maybe new ways of cooking them or sauces.
Thanks in advance.
I used to buy these veggie bites that look like chicken nuggets (Morning Star Farms) in the frozen food section where all the vegetarian foods are. They were pretty good and came in two flavors: broccoli cheese and spinach artichoke I think. May be worth a try if you can find them.
Just add a dip to anything.
Kids eat anything with a dip.
Even if it sounds yucky to us.
Thank you for asking this question!! I am always looking for new veggie ideas too, and here's a recipe that we just LOVE!
Kale chips are healthy and so DELICIOUS!!! My daughter is 2 1/2 and she LOVES kale chips, and asks for them almost daily. My baby is almost 11 months and she even puts little pieces in her mouth.
This is SO easy to make and Kale is relatively inexpensive-- a bundle is around $1.29 and makes at least an entire cookie sheet. (Btw I can eat an entire cookie sheet of kale by myself!)
I basically wash and dry it, take the leaves off of the stalk, (throw the stalks away), tear the leaves into "potato chip-sized" pieces, and toss with a little bit of olive oil (until coated but not soaked), pepper, garlic powder, and a tiny bit of salt. Then spread it over a cookie sheet, bake in a 350 oven for 12-13 minutes and voila! When the kale starts to brown on the edges and is crunchy, it is done. I like mine with just the right amount of crunch- if it is too soggy, it can have a bitter flavor. If it is too burnt, it sticks to the cookie sheet.
My friend's son, whose wont touch veggies, also asks for kale chips. Sometimes it can be hard to find, so my friend tried this "recipe" with spinach and said it was also tasty!
My older daughter also loves edamame, and the baby loves to suck on bell pepper strips and cut-up grape tomatoes. They both love de-seeded cucumber as well- I cut them into sticks.
I'd love to know if you try it- and if you guys like it!
I got mine to try different ones when I put them in pasta and put a light sauce on them (alfredo, garlic, red, cheese, etc).
Eventually she would eat them alone or with a dipping sauce (like ranch).
My kids love the frozen birdseye BABY sweet peas and corn, they're a little pricier but I buy them cause I know they'll eat them.
I've made a spinach calzone for them a few times and they actually eat the spinach, I use frozen spinach and mix it w/ mozz., parm. and feta cheese.
Have you ever tried to give him frozen peas? My 21 month old daughter is kind of picky as to the veggies she will eat but if I give her frozen peas she will eat them like they are going out of style. She goes up to the freezer and says "Peas!"
If you dice or finely or grate the veggies you can put them in spaghetti with meat sauce or into muffins or a quiche or hamburgers.
Not that my picky toddler will eat any of these things, but it's worth a try!
Get the deceptively delicious cookbook...LOVE IT!!
Cheese sauce?
And here's a link that might give you some ideas:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/355545
Ditto on the frozen peas - it's the weirdest thing, both my 22 month old and 4 year old demolish them! I think for the 22 month old they feel good on her big molars coming in.
Also both of them love edamame - I buy the ones in the pods and just crack open one side so they can squeeze them out by themselves...they think it's fun and they love eating them.
Also you can try those fruit sauces - some brands now have veggies in them with the fruits...Trader Joe has one that's pureed apples & carrots in a squeezable package and my kids love them.
That brand Vruit makes a fruit and veggie juice that has a full serving of veggies in it, and a good variety of them too. You can find that at Whole Foods.
Sometimes you have to introduce veggies over and over and over before they will actually try them. Keep at it!
My 2 yr old loves salad dressing. SO I put it on vegetables and he'll eat it. He loves romaine salad especially with the salad dressing. Also, try putting pureed vegetables in things like speghetti sauce or even cake recipes. I put pureed spinach in brownies and nobody can even tell! I also mix things like pureed carrots, peas, string beans, ect in speghetti sauce.
It's *very* common and developmentally appropriate for toddlers to go through "picky" stages - keep offering healthy choices and chances are good he'll come around eventually (esp. when he gets to the age where he wants to imitate what his big brother does - so it's awesome that your 3YO eats anything). Nutritionist Ellyn Satter, in her book "Child Of Mine - Feeding With Love and Good Sense" says that toddlers often assert their growing sense of independence at the table and sometimes it'll take 10-20 tries before they'll even let you put a new item on their plate, and maybe another 10 tries before they taste it.
But one easy veggie recipe that's very kid-friendly is oven-baked sweet potato strips - cut sweet potatoes into french-fry size strips, toss with canola oil and maybe a bit of cinnamon or sea salt, and bake at around 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until they look "done" (they won't get as crunchy as french fries but are still quite tasty :-))
Have you tried RAW veggies? Try red bell pepper, green bell pepper, broccili cut real small, carrots cut real thin, and cucumber slices. Have a few dips (italian dressing, ranch dressing, honey mustard dressing, etc). I bet if you arranged it all into a neat pattern on the plate, the kids will think it's fun. The other day my almost 3 yr old liked dipping his carrot smiley face pieces into the ranch eyeballs. Then he used broccili nose and dipped that in the ranch eyeballs too. Fun times. Good luck!
My kids love garden burger patties no bun.. with ketchup
I've been making pureed cauliflower for years and my kids think they are mashed potatoes. Just boil and mash with a little butter and cream and they taste just like mashed potatoes. I also use my juicer and throw in some spinach or whatever veggies I have with whatever fruit I am using and they never know the difference.
