How I trick my children.

Into eating veggies that is...and really Noah is the only one that needs to be tricked :) as Eli eats anything...whenever he can.

As a mom to a picky eater, I am always looking for good ideas for new ways to hide veggies, so I thought maybe I would share mine.

1. I use a cheese grater to finely shred carrots and add it to just about any hamburger dish

2. Use sweet potato baby food and add a tablespoon to yogurt. You can buy yobaby yogurt with sweet potato added...but it's cheaper to buy store brand yogurt and add the sweet potato yourself. I also add a little sweet potato puree to his oatmeal, applesauce, and pancakes. If you can get it really good and runny (which is much easier if you buy stage 1 babyfood rather than using homemade baby food) you can add a little to juice.

3. When making things like sloppy joes, I add a can or two of V8 veggie juice in addition to shredded carrots. This wont add a lot of veggie to a serving...but it wont hurt! I love using the spicy V8 in spaghetti too!

4. Mix in spaghetti squash with regular spaghetti noodles. Noah will not eat spaghetti squash on its own, but if I mix some in with regular spaghetti noodles he eats it.

5. While this is the least healthy trick...it is another way to add in some of the nutrients from veggies! I buy the chips (like potato chips) that are made from radishes, carrots and sweet potato. They are still fried like regular chips, so not exactly the healthiest choice, but definitely a better option than regular chips.

I have found it is a lot harder to add green veggies to a dish without altering the flavor too much so I mostly hide things like carrots, sweet potato and squash. Occasionally I will cook in some fresh collard greens to a dish too, but too much and he (and my hubby) will refuse to eat it!

I hope this post helps someone with a picky eater! Please feel free to comment with some tricks you use to get your picky eaters to take in some veggies!