Kids, nutrition & vegetables: how to sneak vegetables into your children without them knowing.
We all want our children to eat their vegetables and once in awhile we will actually be lucky enough to have a child who loves them. For the rest of us, it can be a never-ending struggle to get the proper nutrients into our children. Vegetables can be a major source of child-parent struggle at dinner time when we practically get down on our knees and beg or bribe our children to eat just a tiny bit. Vitamins from a bottle are just no substitute for real fruits and vegetables and can be dangerous if given in improper amounts.
The best way to get vegetables into your child is to ensnare them inside some sort of casserole that they will not be recognized in. You can easily get your child to eat carrots, tomatoes and pepper is you hide them in something like chili, lasagna, or spaghetti sauce. When you have a dish with many ingredients, the taste of the vegetables is diminished and you kids will most likely not be able to detect any specific flavors.
There are many of the same vitamins in fruits as there are in vegetables. You may have more success convincing your child to eat an apricot which is rich in vitamin A, than a carrot or greenery. Peaches also contain vitamin A. You can make French fries out of sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes and add lots of good vitamins to your child's plate and it may even be fun to eat orange French fries.
Try adding pureed vegetables such as squash, cauliflower and carrots, to your soups. These purees will thicken your soup and your child will never know he is eating them. You can also add grated vegetables to dishes such as meatballs, muffins and meatloaf, and don't forget carrot cake!
When your child is older, he will probably decide on his own to eat vegetables, but for now, you can sneak them in whenever possible and feel good about your child's nutrition.
