Food

7 Sneaky Ways to Get Your Kids to Eat Vegetables

Today we’re discussing 7 sneaky ways to get your kids to eat vegetables (and if you should even be sneaky about it!)

Both of my girls (6 and 2) are fairly picky. One week they’ll love a certain food and two weeks later they’ll turn their nose at it. The rule at our dinner table is they musn’t make faces or noises at new foods and the must take one bite. If they don’t like it they can make something else for themselves for dinner. Obviously, this doesn’t work the same for our 2 year old but we often will just give her a little more of something on her plate that she did like.

I’ll go against the grain here and say hiding vegetables in food can make picking eating worse. Your kids may distrust what you’re putting in front of them. The key to that is to make sure you’re still having them try new foods WHILE sneaking in other veggies.

I’ve rounded up 7 of my favorite sneaky ways to get your kids to eat vegetables that have worked for us throughout the years.

1. Who doesn’t love muffins?

These Hulk Muffins are a huge hit with both of my girls (and even my husband who has a hard time eating breakfast). They’re also gluten free but they are GREEN. The fact that any food is green disgusts my daughter so once she tried these, and liked them, we were both shocked.

2. Swap the Fries

If you’re having a meal with fries on the side, swap them out for sweet potato fries or cauliflower tots. These are two of our favorites for sweet potato and cauliflower tots and sweet potato fries. It’s pretty amazing how my kids will eat almost anything if it LOOKS like something unhealthy and they have something to dip it in. Toddlers especially are notorious for eating anything in dip form!

Hidden vegetables in kid food

3. Hidden Veggies in the Sauce

This is a great way to get rid of veggies that are about to go bad. You can put nearly anything in a red sauce and it’ll taste amazing. You can even use pureed veggies in meat sauce served over zoodles or Barilla Veggie noodles. We’ve been doing ‘Meatless Mondays’ and this is a great way to pack in tons of veggies. Veggie sauce over a veggie! It’s a great way to start the week.

4. Sneak it in Everywhere

There are some shocking ways that you can hide pureed veggies into food that even I was surprised tasted good. You can put butternut squash in mac n cheese, pumpkin in oatmeal, and sweet potato in pancakes! I’m seeing a trend with adding veggies into pasta and breakfast foods!

5. Spinach goes in everything

Ok, I have to admit. This one took me a while to get used to it. Start kids young on this one so they don’t notice the color change because it doesn’t really change the flavor. You can add it to eggs, quesadillas, smoothies, and pasta dishes without it changing the taste of the meal.

Hillshire and Tyson make for great salad toppings for kids to love

6. Cauliflower crust

Around here, we do Friday Family Pizza Night each Friday. Try making your own pizzas on pizza night. The more kids are involved in what they eat, the better they eat. We’ve tried a few different cauliflower crusts and although there is NO replacement for original pizza crust, this one is really tasty.

7. Add it to your meat

Mince veggies and add them to your meatloaf or turkey meatballs. Our girls really love meat. Pretty much any meat is going to be a success. When we saw that they always finished their meat, I decided to try adding veggies to their meatballs. They can tell the difference between veggie meatballs from IKEA and my meatballs with added veggies. They won’t eat the veggie meatballs but they love mine.

Kids will always be resistant to new foods. We gave both girls all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and fish when they were little and at a certain age they just became wary. So, I wised up and just tricked them. That’s a lie. We tell them what’s in it, after they try it and say they like it.

What are some of your favorite ways to get your kids to eat vegetables and encourage your children to eat healthier?

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Our Favorite Strawberry Lemonade Recipe

Kid Friendly Apple Oat Baby Muffins

Ginger Rogers Lemon Gin Cocktail


Ginger Rogers Lemon Gin Cocktail is the perfect summer drink. The weather is warming up and for us that means lots of great fresh fruit and veggies at our Farmer’s Market. I secretly find recipes with these tasty foods so I’ll have an excuse to go have a stroll around the market on Saturday morning. One of my favorite summer drinks is the Ginger Rogers. It’s cold and refreshing, perfect for any summer parties or lounging poolside.

Ginger Rogers Lemon Cocktail

Ingredients

  • gin – I recommend a good basic gin for this. No need to get fancy.
  • fresh lemon juice
  • ginger syrup – see instructions below* only takes minutes to make and will last in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. The extra syrup is delicious in ice tea, lemonade or drizzled over fresh fruit!
  • ginger ale
  • fresh mint leaves

Step #1: Place the mint leaves and ginger syrup to your glass and using a muddler (or even the back of a spoon) gently press on the mint leaves to release their fragrance and oils… don’t mash!

Step #2: Pour in the lemon juice and gin and stir to combine and then add the ginger ale and stir once or twice to combine….

*Ginger Syrup

1/4 pound ginger, peeled and thinly sliced (about 3/4 cup)
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

First, bring ginger, sugar, and water to a simmer in a small heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved, then gently simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes. Strain through a sieve and reserve ginger for another use (see cooks’ note, below), then cool to room temperature.

I’m beyond ready for our weather to turn warm and to hit the farmers market to get my lemons! If you are a fan of ginger lemonade, you are going to love this light cocktail with ginger ale, ginger syrup, lemon, and mint! Check out some more tips on throwing a great summer BBQ at my friend Misty’s page.

Did you know, this cocktail was named after the 1930s actress Ginger Rogers. How cool would it be to have a drink named after you? What would yours include?

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Strawberry Lemonade with Fresh Picked Strawberries

It’s strawberry picking season in the midwest and each year we head out and pick until we can’t carry anymore. There is a cute farm (Spencer Farms) near us where you can pick strawberries and blueberries in the summer and dig up mums in the fall. We love going there to support them and their fruit is the best around!

Strawberry Lemonade

We use the strawberries for lots of different recipes. Sophia’s favorite is to put them on her pancakes and my favorite is to make a strawberry rhubarb pie. This year we tried a new recipe we got from Sprouts Cooking School– Strawberry Lemonade. It was a really fun recipe to do with Sophia (5) because she’s always asking for ‘pink lemolade’ at restaurants and was surprised at how real strawberry lemonade tastes!

Strawberry Lemonade

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups water
• 1 16 oz package strawberries, diced

Instructions

Add lemon juice and sugar in a pitcher and stir until sugar dissolves. Add water and strawberries and stir to combine.

strawberry lemonade with fresh picked strawberries

Kid Friendly

Sophia was able to do this entire process by using a wavy chopper and a lemon squeezer. She’s been on a baking kick ever since she took her Baking with Barbie class at Sprouts several months ago. They made fresh squeezed lemonade and she couldn’t get enough of it’s tart taste. Ever since she’s been excited to bake new recipes and even picked out a cook book with her gift card money at the book store. In a few weeks she’ll get to do a full week of baking with Sprouts at their Once Upon a Time summer camp!

If you’re looking for another recipe with fresh berries, last year I made an amazing Mulberry Cheesecake for Father’s Day!

strawberry picking

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Kid Friendly Apple Oatmeal Baby Muffins

Babies are limited at what foods they’re able to eat at 9 months. We want to introduce new flavors and textures to her to help her have a wide pallet. My daughter wanted to make something that they could both enjoy together. I made these kid friendly apple oatmeal baby muffins when my first daughter was a baby and they were a huge hit.

The ingredients couldn’t be more simple. We always have these items on hand. I love that baking helps my 5 year old learn math in a fun way. Baking for others also helps her express her love for them which is so sweet. Sophia has been on a baking kick after attending a Baking with Barbie class at Sprouts Cooking School. She loved it so much that she’ll be going for their Once Upon a Time week long summer camp class! I can’t wait to see what a week of baking inspires her to make for friends and family.

Kid Friendly Apple Oatmeal Baby Muffins

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 C. oatmeal (I used old fashioned for this recipe, not quick cooking oats)
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 C. unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 C. brown sugar
1 1/2 C. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. aluminum free baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
*You can also add other ingredients like chocolate chunks or nuts if they wont’ be given to a baby

Baking Instructions

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 12 count muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.

-Combine the vanilla, applesauce, egg, bananas and brown sugar, mixing well.

-Add in the salt, cinnamon, flour, baking soda, baking powder and oatmeal.

-Fill each muffin liner about 1/2 way with the batter.

-Bake 18-20 minutes. Around 18-19 minutes insert a toothpick into a muffin to check to see if it is cooked through. If it comes out clean, they are done.

We had a fun time making these baby muffins for her baby sister. They make for a great snack to take with us to the library or freeze for later on. What is your favorite muffin flavor to bake? If you’re new to baking with your kids you can see some tips I wrote here.

We have been compensated a week of summer camp through Sprouts Cooking School in exchange for spreading the word about their amazing classes. All opinions are my own (including how much I love their classes and these muffins)!

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8 Tips for Baking with Kids

This post is sponsored by Sprouts Cooking School with all tips and opinions being my own. Some links are Amazon Affiliate links.

8 Tips for Baking with Kids- As a Mom, my biggest tip to give other parents is to ‘just try.’ Life is messy with kids and never perfect. On the plus side, kids often like the messy things in life! Baking is one activity that parents shy away from when it comes to their kids. I hear excuses like ‘it’s too messy’, ‘it’ll go faster if I just do it’ and ‘she’s not able to do it yet.’ The funny thing is, they’re ready to do things before you think they are.

My daughter started baking as soon as she could stand on her own and understand my instructions. Once she hit 18 months and went to montessori school she was baking every week with her class. They would make hummus, muffins, lemonade and pizza. There are kid-friendly tools that are helpful for kids at a young age.

8 Tips for Baking with Kids

Sprouts-Cooking-School-Carmel

1. Get Kid-Friendly Tools for the Kitchen

Our favorite kid tool, and one Sophia still uses as a 5 year old, is the Wavy Chopper Knife It helps by allowing little hands to chop soft things like strawberries, bananas, hard boiled eggs as well as harder foods like carrots, celery and zucchini.

Small mixing tools for little hands like a miniature whisk, wooden spoon and spatula are all great for baking. You can buy them separately or as a set. Some have up to 11 different utensils for the kitchen. I love this Silicone Mini Kitchen Utensil Set.

There are also a lot of tools you already have in your house that are just the right size for little hands. A cheese grater, egg slicer, apple peeler, measuring spoons/cups and small colander are perfect. You don’t need to buy a full set of your utensils in miniature size for them to be able to bake with you. Most tools you use will work great for your child.

2. Get All the Ingredients Out

Lay out all of the ingredients on a clean surface with plenty of space.

3. Have All of Your Supplies Close at Hand

Make sure you have bowls, multiple spoons (one for each child), measuring cups and spoons, and cookie trays all out.

Place them close to each ingredient that they will be used to hold or measure. You can even order the ingredients on the table or counter so that you work left to right!

4. Be Prepared to Get Messy

Nothing would be worse than trying something new and having someone stopping you constantly because you’re making a mess.

Have paper towels handy and/or a wet cloth to wipe up spills right away.  Talk to your child ahead of time about how messes will be handled. Remember, it’s best to clean up as you go so there aren’t any slips but don’t do it in a way that it falters their confidence.

Baking with Kids-Tips-Shelly Bergman

5. Read the Recipe Together

Take a look at the recipe together and read it in it’s entirety. Make it clear who will be doing each step so no one feels left out. If you think there will be fighting over certain tasks, remind them that you can bake together again soon so they can do that task.

6. Make Sure the Recipe is Right for Your Child’s Age

If you’re baking with a first time toddler chef you’ll want to make the ingredient list smaller. If it’s a first time baker who’s in 5th grade you’ll be able to make the recipe a little more difficult. Make sure the recipe will keep their attention but not overwhelm them on their first try.

7. Make a Big Deal Out of Taste Testing

Kids are always more inclined to try new foods when they’ve had a part in selecting or cooking it. Taste and smell the ingredients as you bake. You can also make the final product tasting special by setting it up as a tea party or inviting a couple friends over to try it out.

8. Try a Kids Baking Class Together

If all of this seems overwhelming and you’re wanting to learn from the experts, try your hand at a parent-child cooking class. In our town, we have a kids cooking school called Sprouts Cooking School that is perfect for first time bakers. They offer child drop off classes, full week camps and parent-child classes.

Sprouts-Cooking-School-Carmel

I took Sophia, my 5 year old, to a Baking with Barbie class and both of us couldn’t wait to see what other classes we could take! The teachers had all the ingredients out and had three recipes the kids were going to prepare. The girls were ages 3-9 and they prepared everything from scratch other than the frosting! During their session they made Fruit Tarts, Mini Cupcakes and Edible Fingernail Polish Bottles. They were the perfect recipes for kids of those ages. I immediately signed her up for a week long summer camp themed ‘Once Upon a Time’.

Sophia will likely love it so much she’ll want to have her Birthday party there as well. Her Baking with Barbie class inspired her to want to host her own baking class at home with her cousins. We made up an invitation and found a few recipes we could all make together. Our cousin baking class can’t come soon enough!

What ways do you bake with your children? My husband and I always have our daughter help us with each other’s Birthday cakes as well as treats for the neighbors around Halloween and Christmas. I’d love to know some of your baking traditions!

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