My Toddlers eat their vegetables ~ Momma Blog Feature

03/10/2017

Andrea is a stay at home mama to boy/girl twin toddlers that likes to read, write, craft and practice yoga. I am discovering a new passion somewhere deep down for baking and am a huge animal lover. I drink way too much coffee during the day and stay up too late at night. I enjoy crime reality shows, Vietnamese food, potty humor, any movie with Vin Diesel except for The Pacifier and colorful fluffy socks.

My Toddlers eat their vegetables (even though they don’t know it)…

By Andrea Spaude

Let me start off by saying I’m no doctor, I’m not a nurse or a nutritionist, heck most days I barely pass as a homemaker (and even that really depends on your idea of what that should look like). Nope, I’m just a mom like you, trying to help them get the best nutritional start in life I can despite what I’m sure is their best efforts to discourage it.

I’m sure I must’ve read all of the books and articles. I started them on solids using baby led weaning, introduced vegetables long before fruits, gave them the foods we were eating, no special “just in case they hate my food” meals, gave small amounts at a time, let them play with their food just a bit, offered vegetables before the rest of the meal and the list goes on… By 18 months they could handle a spoon and fork better than some adults in my opinion and were still eating frozen peas as a favorite snack. Then it happened. Somewhere along the line they started deciding certain foods were not as tasty as they once were- almost all resembled a vegetable. I could still get them eating a couple of staples (sometimes) like tomatoes and occasionally carrots but everything else just wasn’t appealing anymore.

I hadn’t changed anything in their diet, they were being fed the same meals we were eating. I was at a loss. Were my kids becoming picky eaters? Did I not give them enough new foods to try in those early days? Did I give them fruit too soon? Is my cooking just really that bad? Either way, I felt like I needed to do something and honestly, deep down I know it wasn’t because I thought it would really affect their health, my kids were still thriving but I think more for my piece of mind. Because really, I think I once survived on macaroni and bologna at some point and I think I turned out ok?

So off I went, I looked into the reasons why toddlers stop eating foods, why they get picky, how many times it takes for their tastebuds to decide if they truly didn’t like something. I reintroduced. Over and over and over. It seemed that their tastebuds only really liked peanut butter and mac & cheese? Is this possible? Finally, I gave in. I’d love for my kids to be excited at the thought of a spear of broccoli and look forward to not scraping thrown remnants of squash off of my floors and walls but for right now that wasn’t happening. Don’t get me wrong, I still put full pieces of vegetables on their plates in preparation for the day that this stage passes and they will miraculously be gobbled up but I also resort to some of these more often than not so I can finish the day knowing that they did eat at least some…

Make them look like a treat

It’s no secret that kids love muffins, cookies, bars, squares- everything that seems to be the least healthy choices. If I give mine zucchini- it will end up on the floor. Every. Damn. Time. If I put it in a muffin with say, blueberries- suddenly it’s dessert! Carrots? These are often squished in their fingers before they even reach the floor where they find hide out in between my floor boards waiting to be scraped out later- put it in a granola bar and they’re all over it. Even beets can be made into a healthy snack they’ll actually eat! Pinterest is your best friend when it comes to hiding veggies in baked goods. And bonus, you can make it as healthy as you want and often very freezer friendly. Think oatmeal, pumpkin, whole grains, chia seeds, flax seeds, apples, apple sauce. There’s no limit, create away! Some of our favorites are Blueberry & Zucchini muffins, Pumpkin Harvest muffins and Carrot & Zucchini bars.

Vegify the foods they love

Is that a word? If not, it should be. Pick their favorite food/meal and vegify it! Does she love Mac and Cheese. Great! Try switching out the noodles to vegetable noodles and throw some peas in the water while the noodles are boiling. Does he eat all of his scrambled eggs every morning and beg for yours? Perfect, add some well chopped broccoli and cheese while its cooking, ham is great in this too. Do they both love pancakes? Awesome, add some pumpkin puree to the mix before you fry them up! Just add in ½ cup to 2 ½ cups of your batter along with some nutmeg, cinnamon and a small dash of ginger. Small additions seem to go unnoticed with my two. I usually steam some cauliflower when I’m making mashed potatoes, I mash them both together, It all gets gobbled up and no one is the wiser. Spaghetti and Meatballs? I’ll use the vegetable pasta and add some zucchini or spinach to my usual meatball mixture- short on time? That’s fine, chop some spinach or zucchini or whatever veggie you have kicking around very fine and just add it to your sauce!

Blend it

With some foods, there’s really no better way to disguise the texture and taste than throwing it in the blender with some milk and fruit. This applies to not only my one year olds but also my tastebuds. Spinach and kale are my favorites here usually with blueberries and a banana but there are so many options out there. You can even buy pre-packaged fruit/vegetable smoothie bags at most grocery stores, just add milk and you’re done!

Turn it into a casserole

For months my kids would eat frozen peas as is. They gobbled them up like they were Fruit Loops laced with Lucky Charms. Then one day it stopped, I put out their bowls of peas to pick away at only to find them both thrown on the floor. Needless to say, I was slightly devastated. I thought it was in the bag, foolproof. At the end of the day I could no longer say “at least they still like peas”. Out came the trusty tuna casserole. Creamy noodles with loads of veggies mixed in. Magic really. Plus it doesn’t come any easier than a casserole when you’re low on time, energy and food. Whatever cream soup you have on hand, frozen vegetables (carrots, corn, peas, peppers, whatever you have), meat (tuna or leftover chicken are my favorites), egg noodles, some cheese if you’re feeling fancy and voila! Dinner is on the table in 30 minutes or less.

Bonus: I love casseroles for the end of the week before my next shopping trip. I can use up whatever odds and ends I have left in my vegetable drawer and you can easily make your own cream soup if you don’t have any handy!

Eat it Yourself

When all else fails, start chowing. Seriously. If I’m eating something my kids will need to have it too. Usually the exact same food I just put in front of them only to have them gag and push their highchairs away from it like I’ve just tried to poison them. But I’m eating it, so they must have it. From my plate and my fork of course and sometimes on the living room floor…. picnic style…

So there you have it. If you’re living with a picky, vegetable tantruming toddler like me, I hope something in here can help you get through this fun stage too! If you have a tip or trick that works great for you, please