What are your favorite ways to serve vegetables to your toddler? I'm completely in a rut over here. And I know- give her what we are eating- but I'm in an adult veggie rut too and we often just do spinach salad or something, and C can't eat the spinach leaves really.
Tell me your faves!
persimmon / 1343 posts
My LO likes when I just serve up canned veggies for snacks (I get the no-salt-added kind) like black beans, green beans, corn, or peas - she eats all of those well just poured right out of the can so it is easy to just grab something and not have to cook anything. Recently, she has taken to gnawing on chopped carrot sticks (now that she has learned to just take bites and chew instead of shove the whole thing in!) and also likes the fruit/veggie pouches (I like to make my own with applesauce & pureed veggies in reusable pouches to save money, but also pick up some premade ones from the store for quick on-the-go snacks). She tends to also like them roasted or baked/cooked with cheese and seasonings like in veggie casseroles or quesadillas and out of burritos, etc but not if they get too mushy.
I like to just add veggies to dishes I would normally make, like adding chopped onions and peppers into taco meat or pasta sauce, or making black or pinto beans with a bit of cumin, cilantro and salt/pepper as a side dish, or roasting/grilling veggies depending on the season to serve with the main dish. Fresh20 has given me a lot more ideas haha.
nectarine / 2054 posts
This is a great season for root vegetables - we'll roast big trays of them - parsnips, carrots, beets (red and yellow), turnips, rutabaga. Also roasted or steamed cauliflower and broccoli is nice. We steam and freeze for DS chunks of butternut squash, two colors of beets, and sweet potato, and along with other frozen veggies you can buy (like broccoli, cauliflower and green beans) always have some ready-to-go veggies for him.
honeydew / 7586 posts
Following! I've tried to get creative with veggies and make broccoli and cheese patties, spinach infused meatballs, etc. No luck! The only way I can guarantee that he will eat his veggies is of I make the Weelicious fruit & veggie muffins.
grapefruit / 4923 posts
i generally have to finely chop the hell out of any veggie in order for LO to eat it--more like he can't avoid it. i actually think he's okay with the taste, but texture is an issue.
eggplant / 11716 posts
I add butternut squash as a thickener to everything. I buy the already pureed frozen kind (no preservatives, no added ingredients, just pureed squash) and add the tomato paste and spices for pasta sauce, or I add it to chicken curry. I also add it to toddler pancakes for LO. I just find it to be the easiest way to get a veggie in unexpected places, haha.
Other than that, LOs favorite veggies are steamed (from frozen) brocooli trees (not "broccoli cuts" that are mostly trunk), steamed cauliflower, spiced sweet potato chunks, sweet potato tater tots, green beans, green peas and then I sometimes get more inventive and make rutabaga, brussel sprouts, roasted carrots, etc.
Oh, and she loves Lima beans, but I guess those are more of a starch.
I'm not very good at getting spinach into stuff--I need some ideas on that.
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
We also have issues with veggies. Things I think he will like, he turns his nose up at. He will eat a lot of things dunked in dips like veggie dip, ranch or ketchup right now. Especially steamed broccoli or cauliflower. He loves fruit and veggie pouches (especially apple/carrot and apple/butternut squash. Yet, he won't eat carrots or butternut squash. Weirdo. He will also eat veggie muffins.
Oh I forgot his most common ones- he eats a tone of tomatoes, peas (just heated with nothing on them) and corn.
squash / 13764 posts
Faves include:
chopped spinach/kale in scrambled eggs or in grilled cheese (I sprinkle it between the slices of cheese before I cook it) or in smoothies
- roasted sweet potatos
- roasted brussel sprouts
- veggie muffins (weelicious.com has some great recipes)
- raw baby carrots sliced thin
- veggie pesto (made with spinach, or kale, or broccoli instead of basil)
pineapple / 12566 posts
I just made spinach strudel for dinner tonight.
Homemade pasta sauce with shredded carrots and zucchini mixed in. You can't even taste them.
Zucchini fritters
Frittata with red onion and zucchini
Roasted broccoli always goes down well for both of my LOs.
Peas with lots of fresh parmesan grated over then
Sweet potato fries
admin / watermelon / 14210 posts
you can add butternut squash or pumpkin puree to pancakes.
my kids will also eat mushrooms and onions hidden in pasta sauce.
for straight up veggies, plain cucumbers are their favorite. i roast most veggies - sweet potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, squash... just some olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper (except the sweet potatoes get nothing).
they also like peas with butter.
and of course green smoothies.
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
We love roasted Broccoli or cauliflower around here! Sauté anything but especially Broccoli and green beans. Spinach and kale in quiche. She loves carrots in soups and veggies such as Carrot and celery raw. Edemame and peas are favorites as well.
She's not a huge fan of leafy Asian greens but will eat the stalks
grapefruit / 4988 posts
Mine will often refuse veggies at meals with us but she will eat them at daycare, I think because she doesn't have the option of getting extra of whatever else she is eating. We are lazy and usually just heat up frozen veggies - peas, broccoli, cauliflower, and green beans are her favorites and she will always eat them. At home, she is most likely to eat veggies if they are in a sauce with meat, so things like curries and stews go over well.
honeydew / 7091 posts
I don't know if this will be helpful since L loves anything edible. Her faves are:
Frozen peas and corn (eats them frozen!? Weirdo)
Steamed carrots
Roasted potatoes/carrots/beets
Celery sticks with dip (ranch or pb)
She will entertain shredded carrots every once in a while, but it's dependent on her mood
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
Thanks ladies! This is helping me break out of my rut. C used to love frozen vegetables- peas and the medley. So easy. But she's probably sick of it since I have given it to her so often. Picked up some veggies to roast for tomorrow. She's been such a toddler lately- loves something one day, hates it the next.
papaya / 10473 posts
My LO loves quiche and frittatas - you can put any kind of veggie in them!
pear / 1852 posts
following! she often protests my veggie choices. I'm just glad she loves fruit so much.
cantaloupe / 6885 posts
Following! Dd is anti veggie these days, I think a big part is because she wants to feed herself (no purées!) but can't quite figure out how to chew the pieces yet.
I did get a zoli slow pop Popsicle maker and put veggie juice in them to freeze... She had a carrot Popsicle tonight and thought it was the bees knees.
pomegranate / 3127 posts
@Boheme: us too! Quiche is super easy and you can hide anything in it 
I just whip up some eggs and milk and a little flour, add mashed veggies (cooked first), and pour it in a ready pie crust. It's about 40 minutes in the oven.
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
sweet potato fries!! you can buy them frozen or you can just slice up sweet potatoes, put some olive oil and salt and bake them!
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
@Charm54: I think this is part of the problem here too-- she wants to do it hersef, but still has a hard time with a lot of textures of the veggies DH and I usually eat (ie, salad greens or raw veg).
I roasted a big tray of broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower and will try them out tonight. I also roasted beets, which I LOVE, but I'm a little afraid of the mess she will make. The store didn't have any of the yellow ones... Then again, it is bath night...
coffee bean / 28 posts
My DD(18mths) is a big fan of broccoli, (boiled) spinach and bean sprout, edamame and bean. I usually prepare one of her favorites and one new veggie so that she can at least eat onc kind of veggie per meal. She tried sugar snaps yesterday. She wasn't that enthusiastic but ate several bites so I'll try again.
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