Eat Your Vegetables, Dear {My Tried-and-True Methods}

Children are finicky. Today they like corn, tomorrow they don’t. Today tomatoes are awesome, tomorrow tomatoes are gross.

As parents, we’re always doing a daily mental checklist of each food group. Vegetables can sometimes be trickier than the other food groups, so I thought I’d share my favorite creative (and sneaky) ways to get your child a daily dose of veggies without having to worry about what food is on their good side for the day!

JUICE YOUR VEGGIES

Kids typically love juice, right? In our home, juice is a special treat. Would your child be as thrilled as my friend’s is about juicing veggies? My friend is a genius about sneaking carrots, cucumbers, beets, even bell peppers into her juicer alongside kid-friendly ingredients like oranges, berries, and peaches.

Three tips for juicing vegetables for kids:

1. Let the child participate in making the juice—they’ll be more likely to be into the end result.

2. Before drinking, strain your juice with a fine mesh strainer if there’s a pulpy texture you think your child will refuse. (I’ve even had to do this with lemonade from Chick-fil-A sometimes!)

3. Act like it’s a huge treat.

Here’s a good primer for kid-friendly juice recipes and additional tips for successful juicing!

DIPS

Kids love to dip. Instead of the standard chips, why not introduce kids to dunking sliced veggies into a dip? You don’t have to go crazy. Simply crack open a package of hummus or mild salsa.

In the mood to create your own dip? One of my favorite EASY tricks is to mash up an avocado and add salt and pepper.  It takes about 2 minutes and is great with sliced carrots or celery. And if you want more dip inspiration, look at these 30+ kid-approved dip and snack recipes. The pea pesto intrigues me.

POPSICLES

Who doesn’t love popsicles, especially in these century-degree afternoons? What about Pea-Wi (translation: peas and kiwis) popsicles? My son and I combine frozen peas and fresh kiwis with orange juice for our afternoon snack. Get our favorite veggie popsicle recipe on Weelicious.

By the way, we made the popsicles in my new favorite obsession: Zipzicles. Have you heard of them? They are long and skinny zip-closure bags perfect for homemade popsicles.

BAKE

Did you ever check out Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food by Jessica Seinfeld? I love her ideas of hiding butternut squash or cauliflower in macaroni and cheese. But my favorite Deceptively Delicious recipe is Chocolate Cake with Beets. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t grow up eating beets. I aim to raise my kids with a broader palate, and I love making these bright red chocolate muffins for an afternoon snack.

We want to hear from you! What are your tricks to get your kids to eat their veggies? We’d love to see your ideas in the comments.

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