When Timmy started eating solids, we delighted in the fact that he seemed to prefer green vegetables to fruit. Our kid LOVES his vegetables and shuns the unhealthy or sugary food YOUR kid is eating, we scoffed. At the time, my mom reminded me that she would hide vegetables all the time in our food so we would get some nutrition. I laughed and thought, you must not have introduced healthy and delicious food to us early enough. You must have caved and fed us sugar-laden treats and heavily processed meals.
Fast forward 6 months or so...
Picky picky pickiest eater. He loves a lot of fruit, most dairy and almost any grain. Vegetables? Almost never eats them. He'll tolerate a puree mixed in with his morning oatmeal. He'll eat corn, beans and some other small diced veggies he can eat with his fingers. He eats yogurt with fruit and veggies in it. But you can bet your ass he will NOT touch steamed broccoli "trees" or cut green beans. I still offer fresh veggies every once in a while, but it's really not worth the effort to prepare them every day only to be turned down without even trying them. I needed something that I knew he would eat so that at the end of the day, I could tell myself he had a small serving of veggies in his diet.
I found this recipe and modified it (a lot). Timmy LOVES them. I plan on making these tomorrow (also heavily modified).
3 finely shredded carrots
2 finely shredded zucchini
1 14.5 oz can pureed pumpkin
2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar (plus 1/4 C brown sugar)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 C no-sugar added applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
1. Gently toss together carrot, zucchini, and pumpkin; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
3. Combine eggs, applesauce and vanilla; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened (batter will be thick). Fold in carrot mixture.
4. Fill greased or paper-lined mini-muffins cups two-thirds full. Bake at 375 for 16 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to wire rack.
How do you get your kids to eat veggies?
2 comments:
That sounds good, I'll have to give it a try. My kid loves most fruits, but will eat only certain types of vegetables, so we just stick with those. Green beans, carrots, peas, asparagus. Anything else, she plucks off her plate and promptly throws it to the dog.
Those sound great! I was just going to say that muffins, pancakes, and meatballs/patties are all good options for getting in some extra veggies in a kid-palatable form. I usually cut down the sugar by almost half in recipes like the ones you posted, and it's still plenty.
I also make savory muffins and pancakes. Have you ever had pajeon, the Korean seafood pancake? I make a version of that with lots of green onions and other veggies. I also like to mix masarepa with whole wheat flour, water, and egg to make a dough with a more cornmealy texture, and throw lots of veggies and herbs in there and pan-cook it.
JW's creation is spinach nuggets -- sauteed onions and a little garlic with fresh spinach in the food processor, squeeze out the water, mix with an egg, dip in breadcrumbs, and bake. They're delicious and almost entirely made of veggies.
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