Tricks on hiding veggies in food for pickey eaters

I had several friends whose children were the same as you describe. I guess I was very fortunate, all four of my children always loved vegetables. Lets see, some things that I did (again, not to disquise, just to increaase the amount of vegetables served): I grated carrot and squash or zuchinni into my meatloaf, I made zuchinni bread, I made carrot cake, I served sweet potato pie (tastes so much like pumpkin that many can't tell the difference) and of course, the spaghetti sauce that many have already mentioned. I was wondering as I read your post and the replies, could you pureee some squash and put it into mashed potatoes? I don't know how much it would alter the taste, but it might be worth a try. Actually pureeing the vegetables before adding them to any dish might make them non-discernable to his keen little eyes!!

my mom used to make it all dippable and we had tons of fun eating them that way. You can also try serving htem in a fun way and make eating them a game for him. Like makign a funny face with his vegetables and then see if he will eat the nose or smile.

since i hate peas my mom made pea soup one day and never told me what it was. I enjoyed it soo much that she told me only in the end what it was. You could try making soups. First make cream soups and then to soups with pieces of different vegetables. Try cutting the pieces fine so its difficult to separate. You could also make a cauliflower bake in white sauce and this is very tasty. Search for receipes on the web. You wlll get literally hundreds. Good luck

oh we are the oposite here we love our veggies there are so many ways to prepare them smoother them with cheese sauce or butter put them in rice dishes or noodles serve them with mashed potatoes and they are good for you !

Maybe try him with the vegetables raw. This works great with my kids, they prefer them that way with ranch dip. Or you could always hide them in the potatoes. Brocolli with cheese sauce was always a big hit here too.

my young brother also have same problem.and i am looed at this discuussion for a solution.thanks for starting such discussion and keep discussing interesting topics in mylot.given a +

My son refuses to eat zucchini so I always grate some into my spaghetti sauce, also carrots that way. I user the frozen mixed veg in pasta dishes too as they are cut small and normally he doesnt see them. I am lucky as loves corn on the cob, peas, and heaps more now. Good luck. Maybe do a search on the net for different ideas

actually i have no problem regarding that when my chidren are still toddlers...coz after they start eating solids its the first things (taste) i given them and it works....

Would he like to dip veggies in cream cheese , or sour cream , or even salad dressing , cut carrots , celery , broccoli , peppers , and put the dip in the middle , just like chips. Also you can make him vegetable soup with chicken broth .Or you can cut the veg. tiny bits and hide them in the mac and cheese. I add a mixture of veggies to the rice and cook it all together . You can put it on pizza dough , cover it with tomatoe sauce and cheese and bake it

My 5 year old loves veggies but for the 7 year old, a major issue. We have a veggie juicer, and mix veggie juice with the morning OJ. That takes care of 30% of the needs. Recently we bought a Magic Bullet, a brilliantly designed machine for pureeing and chopping. We have now several goodies that happen: 1. Big fat stuffed omelettes (stuffing grated veggies and cheese) 2. Meat and minced veggie pies 3. Veggies blended into pasta sauce. 4. Veggie & yoghurt dips This is really awesome stuff. 5. Veggie Burgers (some meat and potato - but loaded with the good stuff) That generally takes care of the RDA, but grating does diminish some of the fiber aspects - but as long as the nutrients go through, we are all happy. Good luck.

Make sloppy joes - grind some carrots in there. You can also hide red peppers. I do the samething with spaghetti sauce. Will he eat fruits - What about banana bread? If you bake, use applesauce instead of oil. Make muffins, use shredded carrots in there. I have a recipe somewhere for muffins that are chock full of fruits and veggies. I will look for it tomorrow.

Such a great topic, and so very true, in every family, there is always one. My kids used to call me the QUEEN of food disguise. I always add either wheat germ or crumbled tofu to all the dishes I cook with hamburger. I also used to hide brocoli and other vegies in hot pockets, I made myself. I either puree or cut everything super small. The pizza ideas are great too. Stuffed pasta with cheese and any hamburgar mixture. You can even buy the vegie burgers and crumble them up , they have tons of vegies. Hope these help, and my best of luck to you .

This sounds exactly like my son he's 3. We had major problems trying to get him to eat his vegies but I found that fried rice with the vegies cut up extra tiny to mix in the rice is a good one, but the winner for us is mashed potatoes, you just boil up the vegies and mash them in with the potatoes ,butter, milk ,simple and my son would eat it everyday if he could lol. Good Luck with it all!

since ur son loves potatoes (who doesnt?!), i'll share u this recipe i saw on tv. chop up cooked broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, spinach etc and mix it up in mashed potatoes. Salt pepper to taste. Make patties like fish fingers. Dip it in beaten eggs and roll it in breadcrumbs and fry it shallow pan. minus point is the oil but it worked with my nephew. he hates veggies but absolutely loves this. We call it potato fingers.

make a puree sauce of mixed vegitables for the chicken. You can serve it baked or fried just pour it over the chicken

I have the same situation at my house. So I am interisted in your responses also. I will tell you what I decided to do. Smoothies. I got a good variety of fruit and some plain yogert and honey in case it is not sweet enough. Possibly use sprite and crushed ice. Tis week fruit smoothies next week vegtable smoothies. They taste good and get gone same day I make them. What am I saying, same hour I make them. Good Luck

I think a soup of the vegetables ll do which tastes good and tomato soup which is good for health and tastes good and fruit salad are some of the veggies where in anybody would not refuse for and some vegetable stuffs like veg pies or some thing which he likes are good

How about wrap it up? My daughter does not like to eat vegtables on her plate, I too, use the spagetti sauce and soup ideas, but I also wrap it up in those flat breads, with lettuce, cheese and a dressing. It is easy for her to eat, and if you cut everytning up real small-like coleslaw, she does not really know what she is eating. Another idea: deep fry (or pan fry) slices of sweet potatoes-they are similar to french fries. Also, Pumkin and squash pies, with whip cream, and you have a desert made from vegtables. again, not the healthiest, but it gets it into them. Mixing certain veggies with applesauce-like squash, and serving it cold is good. If it is subtle enough, he may not notice, just make sure it is of the same consistancy. Good luck.

Oh boy that's an age old problem isn't it?? The FDA recommends a servings of fruits and vegetables....I interpret that to be interchangeable. I always found with my son and my nephews that fruits are easier to take than veggies. Instead of green beans or corn with the meal, why not applesauce (there are some yummy flavored ones and you can mix cinnamon in if you want). Also fruit cocktail (in juice not syrup) in jello always seems to be a hit. How about banana milkshakes, or strawberry, or blueberry?? Fruits in a LITTLE sugar over pancakes and waffles instead of syrup. These are all ones my son liked real well. I never added any extra sugar to any of it because that sort of cancels out the nutrition value. As far as veggies?? Green bean casserole (like the one you have for thanksgiving). There aren't many tricks you can pull on the kids, they KNOW when there are "yucky" things hidden in their food.

I would suggest hiding some carrot, parnip or swede in mashed potato. Have you tried giving him bubble and squeak? You can make bread with tomatoes, spinach, olives etc in that could also help.