8 Fun Ideas to Get Your Kids to Eat Their Veggies

1. Make a Big Pot of Vegetable Soup

and then add some fun noodle shapes

You can use alphabet noodles or look for some fun novelty shapes. You may be able to find some cartoon characters, toy and sports shapes etc. I have even seen pumpkin and Christmas tree shapes. With a little luck your kids will be too busy spelling words, or identifying the shape to notice all the veggies they are eating in the soup.

2. If You Can't Make Them Eat, Make Them Drink it

Pour some vegetable juice over ice and add a straw, a cocktail umbrella or a stick of celery and watch them drink it up.

Here is a Kids Approved Juice

Ingredients:

2 cups apple juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated orange or lemon peel
dash salt
2 (3-inch) cinnamon sticks
2 (about 3/4 lb.) Red Delicious apples, cored and diced
1-1/2 cups diced fresh pineapple
1 orange, peeled and sectioned

How to:

1) Combine apple juice, lemon juice, orange or lemon peel, salt and cinnamon sticks in saucepan.

2) Bring to boil and simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes. Cool slightly.

3) Remove cinnamon sticks. Combine apples, pineapple and orange.
Pour syrup over fruit and chill.

Your kids may not get as much fiber as eating the entire vegetable, but getting them to drink their vegetables is better than not getting any vegetables in their system.

3. Have You Tried Offering Them ...

Some Raw Vegetables...

with some ranch dressing to dip them in? Many kids who don't care much for cooked vegetables will eat them up if they can dip them. Just grab a bag of baby carrots and cut up some red and yellow peppers and some cucumber.

Arrange them on a plate with a little bit of ranch dressing or your favorite vegetable dip on the side.

You can also use houmous as the dressing, it is healthy and if you make it yourself you can ajust the garlic (or leave it out).

4. Take It Even a Step Further and Let Them...

Create Artwork

... out of their vegetables. Offer raw vegetables in different colors and shapes and encourage them to make a vegetable collage on their plate. You can easily make a face using slices of cucumber as eyes, a baby carrot as nose and a slice of red pepper as a mouth. You can use watercress or shredded carrots or even some cheese as hair. Before you know it, you'll find them sampling their "art supplies".

5. Get the Kids Together and Make a Cold ...

Vegetable Pizza.

6. To Get Them to Eat More Vegetables at...

Dinnertime Try a Salad Bar

Put out some lettuce, some sliced or chopped tomato, slices of cucumber, shredded carrot, slices of red and yellow peppers, small broccoli flowerets and anything else you can think of.

You may also want to offer them some choices when it comes to salad dressing.

Favorites in our house are Ranch, Italian, Catalina, and French. To top it all of set out some croutons and shredded cheese

7. Get Them Involved in the Kitchen

Especially When it Comes to Cooking

Ask them to wash the vegetables, if they are old enough let them cut veggies (under your supervision of course), let them help you stir, or anything else you can think of that would be age appropriate.

You'll be amazed at how proud they will be of their finished product.

Believe me, they'll try just about anything if they made it.

8. If Everything else Fails,

Hide The Vegetables in other Food

My mom used to make us some special orange mashed potatoes. We thought it was very fancy, but all she did was to cook some carrots with the potatoes and mashed them right in there. You can also cover broccoli with tomato sauce or cheese. Think of a dish your child really enjoys and sneak a little bit of vegetable in there.

Give a few of these ideas a try and see which ones work best for your children. Keep at it and sooner or later they will start to develop a taste for vegetables.

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