It can be difficult to get your kids to eat vegetables, they are not their favorite, and sometimes the hassle does not seem worth it. However, with the rising rates of childhood obesity, and the increasing cost of health care, helping children to establish healthy eating habits early really pays off. In order to help make your life a little easier, the following are a couple veggie packed meal ideas that kids love:
1. Mashed potato vegetables with veggie gravy: Most children love mashed potatoes, so you can use them as a great way to add some vegetables into their meal. Have some chicken strips with it. What you are going to do is cook up whatever veggies you have, then blend or puree them, and fold them into the mashed potatoes. A good vegetable to do this with is sweet potato, or carrots, and orange with white is more appealing to children than green with white. The next way to add some veggies is to do it in the gravy. Fully cook some vegetables, and then puree them with some chicken stock, to use as your gravy on your mashed potatoes. You can also add this vegetable gravy to other foods, such as meats.
2. Spaghetti with veggie filled meatballs: Kids tend to like pasta, and spaghetti is a good way to add in some vegetables. You can puree some veggies and add them to the sauce. Additionally, you can grate some zucchini or carrots, and mix them into eggs, and hamburger meat to make meat balls to top the spaghetti. They will not even notice the veggies, and will love eating the meatballs, especially if you first read them the book about meatballs, or sing them a song about meatballs. If your child likes carrots, you can cook some up and add to the sauce for some chunky texture in your spaghetti.
3. Roasted “french fried” vegetables: Kids love French fries, and you can make almost any vegetable like a French fry by cutting it into strings, and baking them up. Sweet potatoes, cauliflower, carrots, and even potatoes make great “fries” when baked. You can even add some vegetable dips to dip them into for eating.
These are just a few great vegetable filled items that will win your child over, but for more options, consider soups filled with vegetables, consider pastas filled with veggies (including ravioli) or pasta dishes with veggies outside of the pasta. Consider pizza with veggies hidden under the cheese. Consider taking whatever their current favorite food is, and find a way to add veggies. For example, if they love chicken nuggets, make a veggie dip that they can dunk them in. If they love cheese sandwiches, make a veggie spread to put on the bread. The idea is to sneak some vegetables into the meals they already eat, rather than try to introduce whole new meals to them.
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