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Toddlers are a notoriously picky bunch. Even if they've always eaten a particular vegetable, they might suddenly decide that
it's revolting. Or they could be of the 'I don't like it' school of thought despite never having tried it.
So how do you get more vegetables into them? First of all, remember that fruit also counts towards the five-a-day recommended daily
allowance, so if your child is a keen fruit eater, encourage it. Offer fruit as snacks and puddings and it will quickly add up. However,
if your child boycotts fruit as well as vegetables, you have a tougher challenge. Here's how to tackle it:
Disguise it
- Sauces: sauces are a great way to hide vegetables without them realising it. Hidden veg sauce is extremely
versatile and can be used on pasta, pizza, mashed potatoes or as gravy. You could also make up a cheese sauce and add pureed
steamed cauliflower to it.
- Soups: pureed soups are a great way of getting loads of vegetable in without them realising it. Butternut squash, leek and
potato, mixed vegetable - they're all simple to make and can be frozen in portions to be defrosted as needed. Give them
strips of bread to use for dunking or break them up into 'fishes' to be caught.
- Smoothies: if your child won't eat fruit, then smoothies are a great alternative. Blitz up fresh fruit with yogurt and
fruit juice and serve it as a snack. A colourful, twirly straw will add the finishing touch.
- Pancakes, muffins and fritters: you can grate various fruit or veg into these kiddy favourites and they won't be able to
spot them. Courgette and carrot muffin anyone?
Get them involved
- Go shopping: Get your toddler to join you at the farmer's market. Give them their own basket and ask them to choose which
fruit or vegetables they'd like to buy. Point out brightly coloured items that look appealing, tell them what they're
called, or ask them to find things of a certain colour or shape. By turning it into a game, vegetables become slightly less scary.
- Get cooking: your toddler can help you cook. Mini pizzas are a great way for them to get involved. Chop up various vegetable
toppings. Then using mini wholemeal muffins as the base, get them to spread on some hidden veg sauce. Then ask
them to choose which vegetable toppings they'd like to put on their pizza. Let them decorate and be creative. Top off with
cheese. Yum!
Make it fun
- Creative names: Come up with some creative names for your meals. Instead of broccoli trees, why not serve up the Enchanted
Forest? Transform peas and corn into beetles and bug surprise? Carrot sticks? How about Fairy Wands instead? Allow kids to play
with their food. It's how they learn about it.
- Reward chart: create a five-a-day reward chart. Every time they have a portion of fruit or vegetables, they get a sticker. If
at the end of the day they have five stickers, they get a special treat - be it an extra bedtime story, ten more minutes of TV or
a chocolate button.
- Make it look like fast food: just because they have to eat vegetables, doesn't mean they need piles of steamed
cabbage. Replace french fries with roast parsnip, carrot and sweet potato sticks. Instead of deep fried chicken nuggets, make
some vegetable nuggets baked in the oven and served with a veggy dip, like guacamole.
- Explain why: often parents don't tell their children why they should eat fruit and veg. They just insist on it. Take time
to explain why vegetables are good for your health (they make you big and strong, just like Sportacus). Little children often
want to please so if eating their veg makes them appear to be a Big Boy or Girl, they might just do it.
Most importantly, just keep trying. Variety is good and often you will have to try a new thing several times before they'll even
try a bite. But keep persevering.
Jungle pasta
300g animal pasta shapes
1 small onion finely chopped
1 crushed clove of garlic
Olive oil
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
Squirt of tomato puree
Sprinkle of chopped fresh (or dried) basil
Dash of pepper
Half a head of broccoli, chopped into small florets
25g butter
1 tbs flour
450ml milk
Two cupfuls of grated cheddar cheese
Boil the pasta following packet instructions until just tender.
Soften the onion and garlic in a splash of olive oil. Then add the tin of tomatoes, squirt of tomato puree, the sprinkle of basil
and a dash of pepper. Let this simmer gently for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, steam the broccoli until just tender. Add them to the
tomato sauce mix and take off the heat.
Melt the butter and add the flour and mix together for two minutes. Then gradually add the milk, stirring continuously. Once all the
milk has been added and it's simmering, take it off the heat and add half the cheese.
Mix the pasta, tomato sauce and cheese sauce together then place in an oven proof dish. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and
bake for about 20 minutes until melted. Serve to the sound of jungle drums. (This will make a large volume; freeze the remainder
in child size portions in the freezer).
Vegetable sauce
Use this delicious, healthy and versatile sauce as a base on pasta, as a 'gravy' on rice or potatoes, on homemade pizzas, or
as a cook-in sauce for chicken or fish. It can be used for babies, particularly those in the finger food phase, or fussy toddlers who
don't like vegetables.
1 leek, chopped roughly
2 courgettes, chopped into chunks
1 red or yellow pepper, coarsely chopped
A handful or mushrooms, chopped
1 small aubergine, chopped into chunks
2 carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks
1 clove of garlic, crushed
2 tins of tomatoes
Sprinkle of dried oregano
Sprinkle of pepper
Small pinch of sugar (optional)
In a little olive oil or butter, add all the vegetables and garlic and soften gently for about 10 minutes. Add the tins of tomatoes and
sprinkle on the herbs, pepper and sugar. Stir to combine, then cover and simmer for about 45 minutes. Once all the vegetables are
completely soft, transfer the mixture to a blender - or use a handheld blender -s and blitz it until moderately smooth. Spoon into ice
cube trays and freeze. The recipe makes a large volume of sauce - but you'll get through it as it's very versatile.
Kiddylicious Competition
We're offering Mini Matters' readers the chance to win Kiddylicious toddler meals from Babylicious to the value of £30. Choose
from scrumptious toddler favourites like Jungle Pasta, Fruity Chicken Curry and Rice, Curly Past with Salmon and Broccoli, Spaghetti
Bolognaise and Cottage Pie. Simply click here and fill in the form.
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