Suggestions for getting a toddler to eat vegetables?

[bee74]

Hello everyone

My 15 month old has started having very clear preferences when it comes to food and it is really hard to get him to eat his greens... His diet is not bad. He loves fruit. Carbs and cheese are normally ok. And sometime he eats soup.

But not eating greens is a big problem because we are all veggies in the house.

So can you suggest any brilliant ideas or recipes?

Although you might disagree with bringing up a baby as a vegetarian, would it be ok to keep this threat about suggestions? Thank you very much

[Jessie]

i grate veggies into eggs, flour, cheese, mix them all together and make them into lightly fried pattie type things - he doesn't realise he's eating them half the time! Great with tomato sauce.

JEss

[fairylamb]

Jess you turn vegetarians into patties! I think Bee74 requested no vegetarian bashing remarks!

[Fuschia]

I puree sweet potato, peas, corn and broccoli into a tomato pasta sauce.

Can also puree into cheese sauce, it goes a bit orange.

[lorraineliyanage]

mini quiches are great as anything with cheese is a winner. i put sweetcorn in them and grated courgette. here's the recipe i use, but ignore the gluten-free bit if that's not relevant to you, i use shop-bought shortcrust pastry

http://www.annabelkarmel.com/recipes/gluten-free/cheesy-mini-quiches

[helena handbasket]

Fuschia Wrote:

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> I puree sweet potato, peas, corn and broccoli into

> a tomato pasta sauce.

> Can also puree into cheese sauce, it goes a bit

> orange.

Yep, and then put it on a pita, add a bit of shredded cheese and bake a couple of minutes. Mine will eat anything on "pizza".

[Jessie]

not bashing, vegetarian grating v different. Ha ha. I'm also vegetarian so am allowed!

[Fuschia]

Courgette fritters are nice.. basically you grate, squeeze out fluid in a clean tea towel, mix with some flour, milk, egg and fry. Have recipe somewhere.

PS lettuce is a good "green" and roasted green peppers have lots of folic acid

[melbourne groover]

I am a fan of the secret vege pasta sauce - can of tomatoes then whatever else in the fridge vege-wise. Mix with pasta top with parmasean. Use pesto in extreme circs to disguise (when in poor eating cycle...), although hardly ever have to do that now.

Also grate then chop courgette etc into Macaroni cheese.

[Sanne Panne]

Chop your veggies up finely and cook them in an omelette (cheese omelette if your toddler likes cheese). Or cook and them puree them an mix them into a bolognese sauce. Always works! Mine is very keen on broccoli and spinach but most other vegetables are hidden this way. And yes quiches are great but I'm too lazy to make them...

[sandy_rose]

You could try reading him the 'vegetable glue' book by S Chandler.

Agree re courgette fritters, you could also use cans of sweetcorn instead.

If you have the time to bake you could make healthy muffins using mashed sweet potato, sweeten with agave syrup instead of sugar and replace some of the flour with wholemeal or oats to make them healthier. Great to keep in freezer for breakfast and snacks on the run. Pm me if you would like a recipe.

[ryedalema]

Has anyone mentioned soup yet? I know it seems like a backward step (to weaning) but is a great way of getting veg into them. We do Miso with pretty much anything in it, and sweet potatoes, squash etc make great pureed soups.

[Pickle]

Soup is my way of getting veges into the little ones too. My son happily eats most vegetables in their natural state, but daughter only eats asparagus and carrots! However she'll happily eat soup with all manner of goodies blended into it. I supplement it with bread/crumpets/cheese on toast etc. and it makes a nice easy lunch or tea.

[womanofdulwich]

when making spag bol etc i finely cut veg into that and lentils, chick peas etc. you could do a similar dish with quorn which i have done for vegetarians but I know some vegetarian think quorn is too "meatish"

[njc97]

*facecious suggestion* Send him to nursery? Our son refuses to eat veg at home (picks it out of omelettes etc) but eats everything they give him at nursery. We thought they were just making it up, but when it's sweetcorn he provides the evidence....

Otherwise pasta sauces seem to work (just whizz vegetables up with tomatoes). Think we've got a recipe for beetroot patties somewhere, which are remarkably nice, but he still didn't eat them...

[damzel]

I was told to up my daughters iron intake recently and she totally surprised me by wolfing down spinach and potato, mixed up a bit like a sag aloo but without the spices. The frozen spinach is particularly easy to work with and hide in food too - I put it in quiche and roll it up with tomato paste and cheese in puff pastry to make cheesy puffs.

[bee74]

hey, so many good suggestions!

Thank you. Keep them coming.

I think it also depends on their moods, teething etc. He surprised me on Sat by eating a spinach pastry (prob similar to what damzel describes)!

[lorraineliyanage]

how about tempura veg? i tried these out on my little one at a japanese restaurant and she scoffed the lot. i'm certainly a big fan of anything in batter!

[Sanne Panne]

njc97 Wrote:

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> *facecious suggestion* Send him to nursery?

Same here with the childminder. At home she only seems to like three different vegetables but at the childminder she eats everything.

[Fuschia]

Roast peppers and squash and sweet potato go down well...

[bee74]

PS sandy rose. just bought vegetable glue. excellent. thank you for the tip!

[EmilyE]

Very finely chopped spinach (I tend to use frozen, pre-chopped, but fresh whizzed works too) add a bit of milk and grated cheese and nutmeg to get to coating consistency for pasta. And they can't pick the green bits out. Goes down v well in our house.

[SteveT]

My brother was reluctant to eat vegetables unless they had been covered with apple sauce.

He was only fourteen at the time so there was plenty of time to grow out of it.

Now at the tender age of sixty something he does eat his greens, so a happy ending.