need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

This is all new to ne bc my oldest LOVES veggies & fruit to the point that he would eat that over meat.

My youngest refuses to eat any veggie & even the majority of fruit. He prefers meats, cheese & pancakes. He will not even touch potatoes or pasta. He is more then healthy in the weight department but I want him eating veggies.

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

I just started giving my boys baby food once in awhile to sneak in a few veggies. They eat veggie chips but I don't think that counts. Can you get creative w/ pancakes? Maybe put some kind of squash puree in them or something similar?

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

What about making a baked banana-blueberry puree to use on pancakes instead of syrup? Or just add fruits to the pancake mix? Freeze a banana and give it to him for dessert and tell him it's ice cream.

Giada has a great mac n cheese recipe that sneaks in some veggies. Could you put them in an omlette? Cover them with melted cheese? (I know that isn't the healthiest option, but it's better than nothing, right?) There are some really good veggie burgers in Trader Joes. What about a baby chili (tomatoes, ground turkey or beef, beans, peppers) all sauteed together? You could add vegetables to pasta sauce, too.

eta: check out WholesomeBabyFood.com. I feel like they have sample toddler meals also.

Message edited 9/21/2011 7:38:45 AM.

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

DS generally eats his veggies but i still try to sneak them in when i can. I make pumpkin banana pancakes that DS loves, also banana bluberry pancskes are yummy. Eggs with brocolli and spinach cooked in, veggie pizza, cheese sandwich with chopped broccoli melted into the cheese. You can also mix veggies into meatballs, pasta sauce, or get squash ravioli. Oh, and DS loves the morningstar garden veggie patties and black bean burgers which have veggies, i just try to limit it bc of the sodium.

My ped also told me that fruit counts as veggies, so we try to give DS a wide variety if fruit every week.

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

Jessica Sienfeld (Jerry Sienfeld's wife) has a book out called Deceptively Delicious. They have it in my library. It was a big thing when my DD6 was born, although I don't hear it mentioned all that much anymore.

There are a lot of recipes where you use squash puree, sweet potato puree, brocolli, spinach, etc and cook it into things. Yellow squash is easily hid in mac n cheese, spinach in brownies, stuff like that.

My rule of thumb is just to keep offering them. My daughter will freak some nights if there is a new veggie on her plate, but the only way she is going to get used to the idea of eating them IMO is if I keep offering them. Maybe one night she will get daring!

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

I've borrowed deceptively delicious from my library and it does have some great recipes. The easiest thing for me is to add spinach or chopped broccoli to meatballs. DS LOVES meatballs with or without sauce. I also make muffins and include a fruit and veggie puree.

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

Oh I just posted the other day about Barilla Picolina Pasta- they now make it with vege purees in it- and you can't taste it at all.

They have carrot/tomato and carrot/squash.

DD gobbled it up.

If your LO likes pasta- give it a try.


Oh I just saw you said he won't eat pasta.
What about a spinach or sweet potato pancake?

Message edited 9/21/2011 9:27:08 AM.

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

inside my meatballs i grate in zucchini, carrot, celery etc. it also makes the meat very soft.

my usual go-to is i take potatoes, broccoli (or spinach), carrot and boil them all up together and then puree. i add milk to thin it out, sometimes a bit of butter. my DD always eats this.

i just made these eggplant sticks for my DD the other day and she loved them! ate them lke french fries

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/09/baked-eggplant-sticks.html

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

I make whole wheat pancakes and add sweet potato puree.

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

Kris, I was reading a parent magazine and saw these. Good IDEA!



Its looks like ckn nuggets but has broccoli instead.

A whole line of them:
http://www.veggiepatch.com/products/veggie/kids

Message edited 9/21/2011 10:28:10 AM.

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

jessica sienfeld has a cookbook that's great for this. I think it's called deceptively delicious.

it's all abotu how to make purees and then recipes on where you can sneak all sorts of veggies and fruits into everyday regular foods.

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

Also I am a firm believer that there is nothing like getting them used to the flavor/textures of real veggies...

But....

There is always...

Apple & Eve Fruitables Juice (has thinsg like carrot and beet juice in them)

V8 Fusion

Garden Delights Pasta which has carrot, spinach, etc puree worked into the pasta --- we just tell my DD that it is "rainbow" pasta...

I love the idea of making sweet potatoe fries, homemade baked zucchini and eggplant sticks, which you can bread and the bake in the oven...

I also try to get my DD to eat things like zucchini muffins, banana and apple muffins. We bake together and she at least tries it.

I have a recipe for Chocolate snack cake (which is kinda like a soft brownie, cake texture but you don't frost it) that has either zucchini or spinach in it...I don't remember! It's a Weight Watchers recipe but my DD likes it!

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

Always have a veggie on the side, if nothing but for decoration. I have some carrots and peas if nothing else to put on the side. Maybe he'll eat 1. At least he knows what they look like. If he gets mad I give him a little bowl he can put on it what he doesn't want.

Veggie muffins! Take any muffin batter and shred veggies in into it. I've done as much as 1:1 shredded veggie to muffin mix. mini muffins!

Yogurt. I don't know why but this kid will eat almost anything, anytime coated in yogurt, and especially topped with granola. I can take carrots and broccoli mix them in yogurt, scoop up a spoon fool with a few granola flakes and he opens up wide!

According to my toddler, edamame beans and avocado are not nutritious, they are synonymous with candy.
They are sometimes treated as a mail dish ... its something

Make sure they are hungry before meals. Skip the snacks, and offer only water.

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

I "bribe" DS to eat what I want him to have. He wouldn't eat meat but LOVED pasta.

So if I wanted him to eat 10 bites of pasta and 10 bites of meat, I'd put 5 bites of pasta on his plate and say, if you eat meat you can have another pasta.


Maybe you could give him pureed veges as a "dip" - DS would eat anything if you told him it was "dip".

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

Thank you all for your ideas. Unfortunately my DS will not eat pasta. We have tried several times.

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

Oh I forgot- if he likes yogurt- the Yo Baby 3 in 1 meals.
They have a fruit and a vege puree in them and DD loves it!

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet

Re: need ideas to sneak veggies in my 14 months duet