Hiding vegetables in foods was something I thought I would never have to do. In fact on some levels I disagree with the theory behind it. Like shouldn’t kids EAT their vegetables and understand they are doing their body a good thing?
I have 3 boys. A 7 year old, a 4 year old and a 2 year old. My first boy was pretty much born in love with vegetables. I “thought” I must have done something right as a parent. Then my second boy was a little trickier. I had to hide broccoli under his rice bites and be a little more creative. He eventually figured out he still had to eat his vegetables and he’s a pretty good eater too. It took effort but not THAT much. Well now I’m being humbled. My third boy can spot a speck of green from a mile away and will run away screaming. He barely even likes fruit let alone vegetables. I’ve had to resort to some of the following methods to even get nutrients in him. This isn’t my forever plan. As he gets older and has a vocabulary I’ll be able to do a little more reasoning with him, but for now we’re sneaking….
Here are some of the things I have been doing. Do you have any other ideas?
Pancakes:
I put my pancake batter in a blender and add in freeze-dried bananas, freeze-dried apple slices, and even freeze-dried butternut squash. If I don’t feel like putting the batter in my blender I add the freeze-dried apple sauce because the apple pieces are so tiny you don’t even need to blend them.
Oatmeal:
I put any variety of freeze-dried fruits in oatmeal. This kind I don’t have to hide as much. I do however do the freeze-dried apple sauce apple sauce trick in this too. I wrote a post about it once here.
Noodles:
This is one I’m pretty proud of. I make my lasagna noodles with freeze-dried spinach and since there aren’t “specks” or “chunks” of green in them my boy doesn’t notice. We call them “HULK” noodles in our house. Full instructions and recipe found here.
Macaroni and Cheese:
Powder freeze-dried cauliflower or dehydrated carrots and add them to macaroni and cheese. The taste isn’t that strong and the colors just right.
Sweet Breads:
Use freeze-dried zucchini powder or freeze-dried butternut squash in any of your favorite sweet bread recipes.
Spaghetti Sauce:
Use any vegetable powder in your spaghetti sauce. If you would have been the vegetable in the sauce go ahead and powder it and then it can be disguised from the pickiest of eaters.
Soups:
One of our families favorite soups is this Potato Soup. I think my son might be okay with seeing carrots and celery in there but the broccoli would have him running. I’m thinking of adding freeze-dried broccoli powder to this and see if it works. He’s okay with the green noodles, so maybe an entire soup of green would be okay? Just not chunks?
Smoothies:
I use freeze-dried spinach and any other freeze-dried fruit I have on hand in smoothies. I put the smoothies in a sippy cup that’s not see-through and he will drink anything!
Like I said… this isn’t my forever plan. The little guy is going to have to learn to eat his vegetables like his brothers sooner or later. Probably sooner. However here are some ways I thought I would share in case you too have a picky eater.
Hi there! I’m Jodi. I teach busy moms how to save time and money in the kitchen while making healthy and delicious meals using freeze-dried foods.
Mike the Gardener says
With two kids (5 & 7), I can use all the tips possible. 🙂
Genetic Anomaly says
Great post – I didn’t realize powdered vegetables existed and will be looking for them somewhere near my location.
I would advise you not come down too hard on your youngest son in this matter. As a child, if my mother had employed the “if she gets hungry enough, she’ll eat it” adage, I would have ended up in the hospital for emaciation and likely removed from my mother’s care for neglect.
Growing up, especially as an adolescent girl, I wished with all my might that I could somehow learn to like vegetables. I would have loved nothing more than eating a salad at lunch with my friends, rather than saying “im not hungry” and avoiding eating with others as often as possible. As you might have guessed, this did turn into a full-fledged battle with anorexia, a war I eventually won.
Now 31 years old, I have a number of chronic health problems caused by a congenital neurological effect. Knowledge on the subject is scarce and it has taken a lit of time patience, and research to learn the extent to which it affects me.
I promise there’s a point to this, I’ll get on with it. During the course of my research, I had genetic testing done, and that information has now been analyzed several times by various sources. I have discovered that a person’s sense of taste can depend largely on genetics but, perhaps more important, can vary greatly, even among siblings.
There’s a lot of scientific evidence in this field for some reason. While I always believed myself a “super-taster” due to my strong aversion to vegetables (often producing a strong reaction, such as wretching, when forced to be in a close enough proximity that I could smell them). However, I have learned via my genetic reports that I am the type who has a much stronger receptor for bitter flavors in youth than average, but that the trait should reverse so drastically in adulthood that I’ll actually fall below average.
I am trying new foods all the time and I really love the freedom I’m gaining. Of course there are bumps, but I’m happier with my eating habits now than I ever thought I’d be. In the end, the moral is that your child might actually have a biological aversion to certain foods and I’m sure he’ll start exploring them when he feels safe to.