Getting your kids to eat more vegetables

We all know vegetables are good for us. Have you ever wondered how to get your kids to eat them? I asked a friend for her secret for her children loving vegetables and here is what she told me. “I have three big veggie tricks when cooking for my kids: (1) Hollandaise sauce for anything like cauliflower, broccoli and asparagus works wonders.  They can’t get enough.  Cheese sauce works too and are tasty. Once they don't think the underlying vegetables are evil, you can progress to ranch dip and then eventually a bit of EVOO and salt and pepper (2)  Make sure to normalize the texture as much as possible and (3) when in doubt sauté in a little bit of butter, and lots of lemon and garlic powder and chicken broth.

If you are looking for kids to eat raw veggies – hummus or ranch dip makes everything taste good. Once they start liking the vegetables, you can wean them off the sauces and dips and they really don’t know the difference.

I have found there are a lot of veggies that kids don’t like because of the texture (i.e. tomatoes). In those cases, I cut and seed things so they don’t burst in the mouth (adults like this-kids don’t) and so that the mouth-feel is more consistent (think cucumber seeds).

I have had good luck with this process. You can also puree things if you have a really picky eater. For example, one of my son’s friends won’t eat anything but butter and “smooth” spaghetti sauce on pasta. When he comes over, I blend or puree all sorts of vegetables and put it in the sauce. He doesn’t know the difference.

Also, kids will eat veggies pureed into a smooth soup mixed with cream that they would otherwise not touch.

My friend’s kids are great eaters thanks to her creativity. Try it out and see what happens!