No need for that V-8! There are ways to sneak fruits and veggies into your kids’ diets (and husbands as well!!) that are quick and painless. Trust me, I’m an expert at this because my son is a textbook picky eater. For the past 2 years, since the books Deceptively Delicious and The Sneaky Chef have been out, I’ve been into hiding veggies into my kids’ foods. It seems weird at first, but it quickly becomes second nature.
If you’ll make friends with your food processor, immersion blender, and the baby food aisle, you can add veggies with the best of them. I’m not going to go into the details of pureeing here, but if you’re interested in more information I strongly suggest the two books mentioned above. Even if you’re not interested in changing your entire eating life, but would like to easily throw some nutrients into your food now and then, here are some ideas:
- Throw a handful of carrots into your food processor and chop very finely; stir into spaghetti sauce. You can also use leftover (unsweetened) sweet potatoes for this, or just dump in a container or two of carrot or sweet potato baby food. Trust me, the colors blend right in and no one but you will know!
- Do the same method above, but with pizza sauce!
- I do this one a lot: add a handful of frozen blueberries to oatmeal as it cooks, puree to combine. My baby loves her purple oatmeal! I also cook her oatmeal in milk for added protein and calcium (soy milk, that is. She can’t drink regular milk). Apple works well with this too.
- Make a smoothie to drink with breakfast or as a snack in no time (this is where my beloved immersion blender comes in): mix vanilla yogurt, orange or apple juice, and frozen fruits of choice (try strawberries and bananas, or mixed berries). I buy fruits when they’re on sale and freeze them, or I buy bags of frozen fruits on sale. When you use vanilla yogurt there’s no need to add extra sugar.
- These pancakes are my favorite way to get my son to eat fruit. However, because I’m lazy I don’t do the spinach and blueberry puree anymore (yes, you read that right). Instead I just run a large handful of frozen blueberries under water to defrost them, and I puree with a little water until smooth. My son doesn’t know that his beloved chocolate chip pancakes are chocked full of antioxidants!
What do you do to get more nutrients into your family? I’d love some new ideas!
Love,
Amy
My daughter’s favorite blueberry oatmeal
1 comment:
Great ideas! I love "Deceptively Delicious." As Jessica Seinfeld suggests, I always serve obvious veggies even if I hide them. I'm blessed to have two small boys who will at least try anything (thanks to "thank you" bites, showing gratitude for what we have and for the one who prepared it). I don't make them eat every veggie since they eat many others (my oldest hates peas, so no peas for him).
I also try to educate them on what they are eating, how it is so good for their eyes, or muscles, or brain and such. To introduce them to something new, I tell them about someone they admire (usually an older friend) who likes it (I don't fib, either...in case they ask the person). :) If they don't like a veggie texture, I try various ways of preparing it. Also, they say that if kids help with preparing food or growing a garden, they feel more attached to eating it.
Coincidentally, I just came across this last night: http://hiddenvalley.com/gardenparty/ after seeing a promo about it on tv guide channel. some great ideas. OH! The promo on tv showed one of those chocolate fountains we all love, except they used ranch dressing instead. What a yummy idea for a party!
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