Eat Your Veggies

So, you have a picky eater who won’t eat veggies? I’ve got two, which is difficult when the whole household is vegetarian. When my kids say they don’t want to eat veggies, I say, “What are you going to eat then, since we’re vegetarians?” I get blank stares in return.

This leads me to being sneaky and underhanded in getting veggies into my kids’ food. One of the best ways is to puree fresh veggies in the food processor and add it into things like soups, stews and most sneakily into spaghetti sauce. My kids love pasta and that’s an easy dish with which to be sneaky. The tomato and spices help cover up the taste of the fresh veggies. You just need to make sure that there are not so many veggies in the sauce that they overpower the sauce. My general rule is to put in one cup of pureed veggies for each jar of sauce.

Which fresh veggies are good ones to add? Zuchhini or other squashes, mushrooms, eggplant, carrots, and turnips. Some veggies that are not a good addition are leafy greens (too fibrous for puree), onion (if your kids can tell it’s in there, otherwise puree away), beets (I love to eat them, but they are actually a bit strong and can change the flavor of the sauce.

Whatever you add, good luck with your picky eater!