Getting Kids To Eat More Veggies

As parents you want your children to eat as healthy as they can. When you really think about it, they need too! They run and jump and play all day long - their energy levels amaze me! But more importantly they are growing! Now really process that for a moment. We notice this when we see that they are growing out of clothes and shoes, but think about what is really going on....bones, muscles, lymphatic systems, arteries, brain development - just to name a few, are growing too! This needs some seriously good food!

But...enter the fussy eater!

I don't eat that, I don't like that colour, I don't like the look of that!!

Granted my children are not too bad, but their not great either. For example, one will eat carrots straight from the garden, but never on the plate. Or all the green spinach that you can wrap in pastry, but not one piece of parsley in a bolognese!

What to do...what to do....

SNEAK IT IN!

Yep that's right people, I sneak all sorts of veggie goodness into just about everything! To the point that my husband will quiz anything that comes his way before he eats it!

So how do I sneak veggies into their diets? PUREE'S!!!!

Try:

My chocolate cake recipe click here but this time also add half a cup of puréed spinach, or half a cup of puréed beetroot (this is my favourite, it makes it a mud cake consistency!) or half a cup of puréed pumpkin or sweet potato! Once cooled I promise you won't taste a thing!

Bolognese sauce or our beef ragu click here are great places to add, finely chopped spinach, grated carrots, finely chopped cabbage, diced capsicum and mushrooms! Slow cook this so it all breaks down, you will find not only will your kids love it and get a great dose of vegetables, but the flavour will be enhanced!

Pizza scrolls click here, are also anger eat way to hide vegetables. In your pizza sauce (also with the pizza scroll recipe) sneak in spinach, capsicum and mushrooms! Once in pizza form, your kids won't know the difference!

Smoothies are another great place to get more fruits and veggies into your children's diets. Try soaking old fashioned oats in milk for 10 minutes to soften them, and add these with milk, frozen bananas, strawberries, blueberries etc to your smoothies! Or if your brave enough - spinach or kale!

Also if you have kids that will spot the smallest veggie - dehydrate them first then grind them into a powder. Then you can add a tablespoon of kale or spinach powder to almost anything and they will be none the wiser.

Having said all this I still put everything that we are eating, veggies and all on our children's plates whether they eat it or not, because in time they will naturally become more curious. For example one of our children asked for cut up capsicum as a snack recently! Yes I know! SUCCESS!

Let us know if you try any of these or what you do to get your children to eat more veggies!

Enjoy!