Three Hacks For Getting Your Toddler To Eat Veggies
Getting any child to eat vegetables can be a huge task in itself. However, when it comes to toddlers, it often feels like World War III just started in the dining room.
To avoid the flying food, dramatic refusal of the spoon, and tantrums, our friends at Sugar Producer Magazine put together a handy little list of tricks for getting your toddler to eat their veggies.
Smoothies
For some unknown reason to man, most toddlers love sipping through straws, especially if it’s their parents’ smoothie. Take advantage of that.
Smoothies are just wonderful drinks in and of themselves, so it won’t be hard to get your toddler to drink one. Now all you have to do is sneak in the veggies.
You can add spinach to just about any smoothie because the flavor is hidden so well in the mix of different fruit juices. Apple juice covers the flavor up nicely.
Other veggies you can add into smoothies include kale, carrots, beets and celery. Do your research and try different combinations to see what your child likes best.
Pinterest is a great place to find awesome veggie smoothies. And, even though this isn’t a vegetable, you can add in avocado for some healthy fats and a creamy texture.
If you’re concerned about the green color and how your child will handle that, put the drink in an opaque cup.
Mac’n’Cheese
Mac and cheese might be a staple in your child’s diet. And you can make this work to your advantage.
Time to try mixing it up by blending in some veggies. If you make mac and cheese from scratch, this will be a breeze for you, but if you don’t, not to worry there are some great resources out there for making your own hidden veggie mac and cheese.
Mixing in veggies only adds one extra step to your meal prepping. Pick out some veggies like carrots, cauliflower, and yellow squashes, so as to not compromise the color of the food.
You still want it to look like mac and cheese. Boil the veggies until they are soft, then blend them in your blender until they’re smooth. Add this to your cheese sauce when you make it. You can find a great recipe on Buzzfeed.
You can even boil and blend extra veggies to freeze and save for later so you don’t have to go through the process every time.
Hamburgers
If your child loves hamburgers, then this will be a lifesaver. Hamburgers are an American favorite, so it’s no surprise your toddler likes them too – probably something they picked up from mom and dad.
The beauty of making your own hamburgers is you can add anything into them. When you are preparing the meat, mixing up the ground hamburger with seasonings, throw in some veggies.
Mince some mushrooms, spinach, peppers and onions – or any combination of these – in a food processor and then mix them into your hamburger meat.
Cook the patties how you would any other day, and now you’ve got yourself a delicious, veggie-loaded burger.
Getting children to eat their vegetables can be difficult, but we hope these three tricks will make meal-time a little easier for you and your little one.
Do your kids ever get home from school and all of a sudden the world is falling apart and they’ll die if they don’t eat something in the next 30 seconds? You’re not alone.
Instead of letting them grab the first thing they can get their little paws on, here’s a list of healthy after-school snacks you can prep ahead of time. It’ll be ready right when the kids walk in the door.
