Sometimes it is difficult to make your children eat vegetables. You have perhaps tried unsuccessfully different ways of hiding vegetables in your favorite meals.
Here are some useful tricks to make ingredients go unnoticed at family meals.
- Mix vegetables in the meat for meatballs.
- Combine broccoli, zucchini, squash, carrots, or bell peppers puree in the sauce.
- Make colorful salads.
- Make figures, faces, or landscaping with vegetables.
- Include some cauliflower or carrots puree in cheese sauces.
- Mix black beans with ground beef to make hamburgers.
- Bake fries instead of frying them.
- Make muffins, cookies, or cupcakes with grated carrots or zucchini.
Looking for fresh ideas
It is exhausting to keep trying to include more and more vegetables in your meals. At this point, your head is out of ideas. Maybe it is time to do something completely different.
The following tips are a good start:
- Never quit trying Cook with them as much as you can.
- Applaud your kids when they try vegetables. Tell them the benefits of eating vegetables and how they contribute to their health.
- Do not punish your kids if they do not want to eat vegetables. They will hate them even more.
- Prepare vegetable snacks. Offer chopped vegetables with creamy dips like ketchup, yogurt, or cheese. Keep a bowl of diced vegetables in the fridge.
- Involve your kids in planning and cooking the meals (with vegetables).
Planning with your kids
Inviting your kids to cook with you is the key to your success. They will be more willing to eat the vegetables they helped to prepare.
It is not just cooking with them but involves the whole process, from planning; going to the grocery store to cooking.
To start with the process, follow these steps:
- Gather with your kids to plan your weekly menu. You can make this process a routine, maybe on Sundays, sit together, and talk about your favorite foods.
- Listen to their ideas and guide them with appropriate dishes with vegetables. If they like pizza, include some vegetables in the toppings. Fried rice lovers? Add more fresh vegetables to the rice.
- Make some compromises with your kids. If they want to include hamburgers, pizzas, mac, and cheese, or fried chicken, let them. They can eat all of that with a side of vegetables. For example, with fried chicken, they must eat eggplant rice Or with hamburgers, they have to try a green salad or baked fries.
- Make with them a shopping list. Let them draw and decorate the list. Buy a fun notebook for the shopping list.
- Take your children to the grocery store to buy the ingredients. Teach them how to choose the best vegetables.
Invite your kids to the kitchen
Likely your kids will not be able to cook a complete meal. They will start little by little doing easy activities.
To start, they can wash the vegetables before storing them in the fridge. Then, they can arrange all the ingredients for the meal.
If they are older and can handle knives, let them cut vegetables. For younger kids, let them pass the vegetables while you are cooking. They can also drop some ingredients in the blender or pot.
They will be your cooking sous chef. So, give them a few bites to taste the dishes and ask if they need more seasoning.
Are you ready? Try the following recipe as your first attempt at cooking with your kids.
Cheesy chicken with rice
- 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil.
- 1 pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts.
- Kosher salt to taste.
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste.
- 1 chopped onion.
- 1 cup of sliced baby Bella mushrooms.
- 1 cup of short-grain rice.
- 2 cups of chicken broth.
- 1 cup of heavy cream.
- 1 cup of shredded white Cheddar.
- 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley.
- In a skillet, heat some extra virgin olive oil at a high temperature.
- Add the chicken breasts, salt, and pepper.
- Cook from both sides until they are golden.
- Incorporate onion and baby Bella mushrooms. Stir.
- Add rice and sauté for 2 minutes.
- Pour chicken broth and heavy cream, Mix very well.
- Cook at low temperature until rice is tender.
- Add cheese before the rice is done.
- Serve with chopped parsley at the top.
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