6

Cindy Hilliard N U T R I T I O N

Ways to Get Your Kids to

Eat Veggies!

© Cindy Hilliard Nutrition, LLC • CindyHilliardNutrition.com

26 Ways To Get Your Kids To Eat Vegetables • CindyHilliardNutrition.com

Getting our kids to eat vegetables is no doubt a big challenge! I had, and sometimes still do, have the same problem. My kids have come a long way from eating absolutely no veggies, to at least trying them, and even like them! My twelve year old now eats, asks for, and even cooks most veggies! Here my best ways to get kids to eat their veggies!

1. Dip ‘em!Whether the veggies you are serving are raw or cooked, having something to dip them in or pour over them can make all the difference to kids. Mak-ing the dips yourself from whole food ingredients is best, but there are some high-quality, decent options available at the grocery store as well. Here are a few ideas.

• Ranch dressing—make yourself or buy one like Tessemae’s or Primal Kitchen dressings

• Nut butters! Try almond butter, cashew butter, or Sunbutter that contains no additives or sugar

• Cheese sauce—use quality organic, grass-fed cheese to make a sauce (add organic cream, and a pinch of salt & pepper). Use Parmesan cheese and you’ve got alfredo sauce!

• Hollandaise sauce—it sounds fancy, but is super easy to make. It’s mostly egg yolks and butter, so your kids will get a ton of healthy fats too! Be sure to use pastured eggs and grass-fed butter for the most nutrition. Julia Child’s classic hollandaise is a winner!

36 Ways To Get Your Kids To Eat Vegetables • CindyHilliardNutrition.com

2. Everything’s better with bacon!The flavor of bacon, and the delicious fat it provides for cooking can turn the most boring of vegetables into delicious side dishes! My son went from eating no veggies to being a veggie lover, all because of bacon! We always cook the green beans from our garden with some chopped, cooked bacon—makes them delicious! We started giving our son a couple green beans with a LOT of bacon, because bacon was his favorite food. Gradually, he came love green beans & bacon, and then he began to eat other veggies cooked with bacon. Then he started eating veggies without bacon, and now he eats just about EVERY vege-table we give him!

3. Try a new cooking methodVegetables can be really boring if they are dumped out of a can and warmed up. Even fresh veggies are just okay when boiled or steamed. Different prepa-rations make a difference too. Many people assume they don’t like Brussels sprouts, for example, because the only way they’ve ever eaten them is boiled. But have your had them roasted with bacon, or baked with cheese? You and your kids may be surprised to find that you really like vegetables prepared in different ways. Try grilling or roasting your veggies for amazing flavor!

If you happen to be grilling already, cut up some veggies, toss them in olive, avocado, or coconut oil; add salt & pepper; and

use a grill pan to give your veggies a delicious grilled flavor! Grill for about 10-15 minutes flipping half way through. My favorite combo to grill is zucchini, asparagus, and mushrooms.

Pretty much any vegetable tastes delicious roasted in the oven. Just make sure your veggies are in bite size

chunks, toss in olive, avocado, or coconut oil; add salt & pepper and roast in the oven for 20-40 minutes at about

375˚. Carrots take the longest. Zucchini the shortest, so adjust your time in the oven accordingly. Most veggies are

best when they are starting to turn brown on the edges (zucchini is an exception. Remove from oven before they begin to brown).

Personal recommendation: try broccoli roasted in the oven. Or slice sweet po-tatoes into strips for sweet potato fries. In the fall, slice some delicata squash (no need to remove the peel). So good!

46 Ways To Get Your Kids To Eat Vegetables • CindyHilliardNutrition.com

4. Let your kids help Letting your kids help grow, shop, and/or cook food gets them invested in the process. My kids help plant and care for our garden vegetables. Be-cause they are part of the process, they are more willing to give the veggies a try when they are on their plates. Same goes for shopping or cooking. Try letting your kids choose a vegetable at the grocery store that they would like to try. Maybe have him or her flip through a cookbook to help decide upon a recipe to make. I find that my kids are much more wiling to give a food a try if they were part of the process.

Also, let them help cook! Younger kids can help wash veggies or stir them in a bowl. Older kids can help chop or use a food proces-sor or sprializer. My son would spiralize (and eat) everything if he could!

5. A bite a daySometimes you’ve got to start slow. Some say that it takes 8–10 tries before you begin to like a new food!

Even if you know that your picky eater doesn’t like certain foods, try giving them one bite on their plate at dinner time. Ask them to try it—it’s only one bite! Over time our palates can become more developed, and often times foods that we once disliked are now pretty good! This goes for you too, par-ents! Keep trying new things!

56 Ways To Get Your Kids To Eat Vegetables • CindyHilliardNutrition.com

6. Hide them!When all else fails, try hiding veggies in favorite foods. I have to admit, I used do this quite often! My kids are older now, and I still add veggies into recipes where every I can, but I almost always tell my kids that the veggies are there.

You can use a food processor to finely chop onions, celery, and carrots (try the purple ones). then blend the mixture into meatballs or meatloaf. Shred-

ded yellow squash is absolutely delicious in a breakfast bake (and it kind of looks like cheese). Shredded

zucchini or carrots are great in baked goods too. It’s pretty easy to throw some kale, spinach, or

sprouts into a smoothie especially if you also throw in some blueberries or blackberries for flavor and color! Another idea is to mash cauliflower with lots of butter and cream (use a food processor to make it extra smooth). It tastes really close to mashed potatoes, but your family will benefit from

all the extra nutrition!

Give some of these ideas a try. It may not happen the first time, but eventually your kids may grow to LOVE vegetables!