Comments on: Tip Tuesday – Eat your vegetables!

By: Because if it smelled good… « Hope is Power

Because if it smelled good… « Hope is Power — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 22:07:51 +0000

[...] On to a more appetizing topic, I found another way to get some greens into my children. The idea first came from Daring Young Mom and just the other day, from Vegan with a Vengeance. I made mashed potatoes and put in some spinach that I had steamed for a long time with garlic. I think my kids don’t really know when garlic is in something, because I put it in everything. So anyway, I puree the spinach with a little of the potato water, using my handy and much-loved immersion blender, until it looks like green tempera paint. No little green chunks. I add this to the potatoes, with a little sour cream and butter, and it is the most psychedelic color of green I’ve ever seen. Calvin’s favorite color is green. So I tell him these are for him. He loves it. Gozer, not so much, because he’s waiting for his red potatoes. I think I will try beets in the potatoes next time. [...]

By: Pops

Pops — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 19:42:00 +0000

I’m a firm believer in reclassification. For example, think of doughnuts as a vegetable. Or chocolate. The possibilities are endless!

By: the other grandma

the other grandma — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 06:41:00 +0000

For corn, if you pick the corn fresh and young, and blanch and freeze it immediately, there is no child on earth (who is old enough to eat cut corn:)) that will not immediately love it, and any variation forever after. Lots of work and old school, but sooo good. If you knew the biochemistry of those fruits and bright colored veggies, you’d have 5 times as much of them, every meal. We lived on a farm and my mom was a Home Ec major, so we had plenty of variety and fresh stuff, most at it’s prime. Modeling matters, for sure! Pick ones with lots of flavinoids and polyphenols. Not overcooking them, and a little salt and butter go a long way.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 06:24:00 +0000

My kids eat more vegetables than I do. My 4yo requests broccoli and cauliflower as a snack.

Having a garden really helps. They love to pick baby tomatoes, corn, string beans, and peas right off the vine. Everything’s fresher and sweeter. Fyi if you’re cloth diapering — raw peas don’t digest so well.

They won’t touch yams, though, which happen to be among MY favorite.

Btw, I LOVE your site! Thanks for stopping by mine.

By: LISA

LISA — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 02:40:00 +0000

When my sister came back from Switzerland, we all started eating a vegetable dish she frequently had there. We would open a can of green beans, a can of beats, cook and strain some corn and slice up tomatoes. Then we would arrange them prettily on a platter so that we had dark red, green, yellow and bright red strips of yummy vegies. The best part is that you can dish up you favorites and avoid the gross ones!

By: blackbird

blackbird — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 01:02:00 +0000

OH!
and tonight?
I made these nifty mashed sweet potato patty things?
and Youngest ACTUALLY GAGGED.

By: Squishy Burrito

Squishy Burrito — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 23:50:00 +0000

I have been waiting to write a comment on veggies since the inauguration of Tip Tuesday. I actually had one, no two and I was SOOOO excited to contribute. I turn on my computer, eagerly anticipate reading the post, race to click on the comment icon only to discover that the first 2 comments made were mine. Ugh!!! I am not a vegetable guru. Its not fair. I wanted to be first.

So I thought hard all day and came up with:

Tip#1: corn with mac N cheese is easier if your kids are super picky because it blends in with the cheese. (just dim the lights and they’ll never know)

Tip #2: a variation on the Tuesday girl is to puree food (I just used my homemade babyfood) and add it to spaghetti sauce.

Tip #3: my babe is into drinking from a measuring cup. she thinks it the greatest. weird child. But I put pureed vegetables in the measuring cup and she slurps it down.

By: Moonface

Moonface — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 20:57:00 +0000

three tried and trusted tactics in our house:
1. disguising veggies: by adding pureed/mashed/grated veggies into sauces, dips, sandwich fillings and curries, or by smothering them in a cheese sauce or creamy dressing

2. serving them as snacks – I try to always have on hand (in car, on outings, in fridge) a selection of cut veggies and fruits to nibble on when hungry, and often hand these round when the inevitable hunger pangs before dinner set in.

3. being enthusiastic about veggies (along the lines of: oooh brocolli, how yummy!), and making them a part of every meal.

By: Mom

Mom — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 20:39:00 +0000

I also grate zuchinni and slip it in lasagne or spagetti sauce. When the garden is going crazy with the stuff, I will grate & freeze it for later vegetable subterfuge (Just don’t forget to drain it.)

By: Karen

Karen — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 20:00:00 +0000

Um, do french fries count? With ketchup?