How-To Get The Kids To Eat Their Vegetables?!

Everyone already knows about putting peanut butter in celery, topping it with a few raisins and calling it "Bugs On A Log". Then I thought maybe an apple could be cored at the top and center only, leaving the bottom closed and filling it with peanut butter and raisins, but that's a fruit and not a veggie! A while back our family brainstormed this very problem of how to encourage the kids to at least be willing to give those vegetables a try and here's what we came up with:
~ Veggies-On-A-Stick. Use a little toothpick and line up cherry tomatoes, olives, squares of bell pepper, or whatever you think you can get away with!
~ Disguise them by blending them into sauces, like carrots into spaghetti or tomato sauce (compatible colors). They can be chopped tiny and hidden in meat loaf, meat balls and casseroles. We have been known to blend spinach into our citrus smoothie! (And yes, that's my poor blender pitcher that got melted when I took it somewhere and was left to drain on the stovetop!) Here's what I put in my Citrus Smoothie:
1 Can Pineapple with juice
2 Oranges
a handful of Fresh Baby Spinach (The older it gets the stronger the flavor)
and 2 C. Ice
You can start out with less spinach and gradually increase the amount to give the kids a chance to get used to the flavor. But it's a nice sweet way to eat your greens! This makes at least 2, 2C. servings.
~ Veggies get a very nice flavor when sauteed in coconut oil, plus you get benefits like, 1. It's a fat that doesn't harden with higher temperatures, and 2. It actually helps with weight loss!

~ Let the kids become involved with food. Allow them to grow a vegetable or two in their own corner of the garden. They can help prepare their own salad. Let them create! Some parents become concerned when their kids want to "play" with their food, but if that play will encourage them to eat it (and isn't too messy), why not?!

~ Here is also a place to go for a chart to help them want to eat a rainbow of veggies!

I can't promise what will work for your youngsters, but maybe these little tips will help get your juices flowing and you'll come up with something innovative and new. Then you can share those with me! ...PLEASE?

You can click here for Google Image's, "kids veggie creations", or click below for photo sources and lots more info:

Rainbow Chart.............carrot butterfly................. pirate.................girl with garden cabbages