hiding veggies?

[Dragonfly]

Does anyone have any great ideas for hiding veggies in foods? My almost-two-year-old ds is a *hugely* picky eater - he doesn't care much for anything beyond meat, starches and smoothies. I can occasionally get a few pieces of broccoli into him if they're seasoned just right : .

I'm thinking about pureeing and putting in soups or casseroles, but I know that if the taste is at all "off" or obvious, he won't have it. Any suggestions are definitely appreciated

Dragonfly

[Kylix]

You might get more luck in the Good Eating thread but I'll try to offer up some suggestions.

If your son likes pasta, you could chop up lots of veggies and put in the spaghetti sauce. He'll mostly not notice it or taste it. I think there are some tricks on how to sneak veggies into sweets like brownies, cookies and muffins but I don't have any recipes off hand, sorry. I would say just keep offering your son chances to eat veggies plain as well but with no pressure after a while he will prolly taste some and find a couple that he likes.

Hope you find some more help

Kylix

[Mama2Cesca]

A favorite in our house is to make mashed potatoes except also add steamed, mashed carrots or spinach. Tastes yummy and can call them green potatoes, orange potatoes, etc. Brocoli or cauliflower covered with a white sauce or a cheese sauce is a hit. Grilled cheese with shreeded carrots put in along with the cheese. My dd loves to dip veggies in a sauce. All I can think of right now!

[Safemommy]

I was thinking the same thing the otherday...I need to try and HIDE veggies for my son!!

My son is also almost 2 years old, and one thing that works for us with peas is to call them "balls." Actually, he started it...he would say "oooohhh balls!" and eat 'em up! Works for me! LOL! I've started calling them "pea balls" for him!

Also, I talked with my ped about this issue too and he said that if you can give a multivitamin, you can just let them go through their picky stages. Toddlers are amazing in that they really know what they need...some days he'll ONLY eat fruit, and other days he'll chow down on the veggies! As for a multivitamin, if your son can't chew the chewables yet, you can get liquid Poli-Vi-Sol and put a dropper full into a glass of milk each day.

One last thing...my son LOVES ketchup and if he has a little ketchup on his plate, he'll dip EVERYTHING into it! Strange tastes these toddlers have!

Good luck!

[Dragonfly]

Thanks for the suggestions, everybody! I'm going to post at the 'Good Eatin' board, as well.

He does love ketchup and cheese (though his digestive system doesn't handle cheese very well), so we'll try some of the former and a little bit of the latter

Have a great week-end!
Dragonfly

[coracle]

My 2 1/2yo ds loves parmesan cheese --we call it "powder cheese"--and will generally eat soft cooked veggies if they are covered with parmesan. We offer them plain first, and if he doesn't eat them I ask if he wants some powder cheese on them. This works evn on nights when he won't eat anything with sauce or spices on it.

-Sue

[lilyka]

I used t omix in cold frozen mixed veggies with yogert. More or less just started treating them like fruit. Since they were a little frosty yet she kinda liked them. Got a little over zelous though and she figured me out. Also my dd can find broccoli no matter how small I puree it. Somethings just won't fly no matter what.

I heard about a chocolate cakle once that used spinach.

[DeChRi]

You guys are brilliant!

[lighting_goddess]

Quiche...This is the secret in our house, I can get my dd to eat any vegtable as long as its in quiche. I make it the easy way with the frozen pie crust, and then I have put zuccini and squash, asparagus, carrot strips, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinich, or whatever, then a bit of cheese and of course eggs and bake the whole thing and its great. She loves "special pie" and will eat whatever is in it, and its a great way to clean out the fridge too. Have a 1/2 a tomatoe and some mushrooms, throw it in a quiche and call it a pretty healthy dinner.

[aircantu1]

try something like pumpkin muffins, zuchinni bread, carrot cake...and my favorite...slice and freeze 1 banana, add 1 cup of milk and put it in the blender with a little chocolate syrup/ powder, strawberry powder, whatever and blend it all up..the banana makes it sort of thick like ice cream...i guess you already said he'll eat smoothies though, so that probably doesn't help much. Besides, a banana is a fruit.

And spaghetti squash with marinara sauce may trick him...the squash sort of looks like noodles...

good luck!

[bellamama]

smoothies are thebest way to sneak in veggies...

I make such wonderful smoothies in the morning and put everything in them and you would never know. I always like to add at least 8 different fruits and veggies...

some great veggies to add to smoothies without EVER BEING caught are

carrots
red cabbage
yellow squash
little cherry or grape tomatoes
spinach
wheat grass

add lots of fresh and frozen fruit and some organic juice and voila! A perfect meal!

I also add nut butters for extra protein...yummy! Melanie

[bellamama]

ooooh I also forgot...

A great thing to add to smoothies that makes them thick and sooo creamy is AVACADO!!!!!!

It is the best...The kiddos will NEVER know! Melanie

[momma22]

I used to grate zucchini and carrots and put them in spaghetti sauce. my ds never knew.

good luck! Its hard when they dont want to eat healthy! Just keep offering what you have. Try some dips... let him get at them and eat them by himself. (do you have a shelf in the fridge he can get at by himself?)