Hi there -

My 20mo is not interested in veggies - loves fruit - but I have yet to conquer vegetables. Any cool ideas of what to offer him? Places to hide it? Muffins? Smoothies? I'd love a few recipes.

Thanks.

Amy
mom to 20mo Garrett

By Jann on Thursday, May 5, 2005 - 08:04 am:

Have you tried them as finger foods? Peas, corn ect? My kids liked to dip their veggies. You could make zuchini muffins, or puree them in spaghett sauce.

By Cat on Thursday, May 5, 2005 - 09:21 am:

The 21mo I watch only likes corn and carrots (either cooked or raw--cut into very thin strips). I just keep offering them hoping eventually he'll eat them. I have another little boy I watch that will be 3 next month and he's just now starting to try the veggies I've been offering him for 2 years! Yes, you can hide things like zuchini and carrots in muffins and such. You can also hide veggies in meatloaf and lasagna, or like Jann said, spaghetti sauce. Good luck. At least he's eating fruit! I've had kids (forementioned almost 3yo!) that wouldn't even eat those!

By Amecmom on Thursday, May 5, 2005 - 09:35 am:

Does he like eggs? I make my son scrambled eggs with broccoli or zuchini.
Ame

By Bclifton on Thursday, May 5, 2005 - 09:36 pm:

I'm vegetarian, and so is my 19-month-old. But I've always been a picky veggie eater, too. The one thing I've learned to do is give him veggies *I* wouldn't eat so I don't limit him with my tastes. It's gotten to where cooking for him is making ME eat healthier. He's nuts for broccoli (either steamed and then dipped in butter or sauteed in olive oil so it's pretty soft), okra (I never realized the frozen chopped okra was so good AND easy to make), green peas, and green beans. He'll also eat anything cornbread-like-- corn fritters, corn-nuggets, creamed corn.

I can also usually win with fried rice combinations-- especially if I include eggs or tofu or some other meat-substitute. I thought it was silly, but DH put soy sauce (low-sodium kind) into a stir-fry, and DS gobbled it up.

You'll notice some of this has added fat and salt, which I'd prefer doing without. But I try to limit it to good fats and whole grains, and never ADD salt except for soy products.

Oh, and one more thing-- I sometimes have to make a big production of dipping things-- find a healthy dip like hummus or cottage cheese and make a show of how fun it is to dip an asparagus spear into it. It's messy when DS gets into it, but he loves the game, and he gets plenty of veggies in him.

By Marcia on Thursday, May 5, 2005 - 09:54 pm:

I have a juicer, and used to juice veggies with an apple. It worked well when they still used sippy cups, because they couldn't see what they were getting. Apple overpowers the other tastes.
You could also do that and make popsicles with it.
I've also given them frozen veggies, because kids love to eat anything frozen. :-)
If he likes mashed potatoes, mash other veggies in with them.
Does he like soup? You can puree a lot of veggies in to the broth, which thickens it naturally and adds lots of goodness.
Luckily my kids all love veggies!