Man Apparently CAN Live On Bread Alone

Sneak them in!

My sister (32 years old) does not eat any fruits or vegetables – unless you count potatoes. She hasn’t since she was a little kid. And while she seems healthy (hello multi-vitamin), my mother still wrestles with it even though they live 500 miles apart. So this year my mom bought Jessica Seinfeld’s book about sneaking in pureed veggies and fruits into foods. We’re using this technique for Thanksgiving this year!! I’m not sure how it’s going to work but there’s something really fun about tricking her into eating vegetables. [insert evil laugh]

Sorry, I don’t have recipes yet but my mom mentioned something about chickpeas in the macaroni and cheese.

Oh boy. (no pun intended) I’m sorry I have no advice for you! Oh, have you tried smoothies? They’re quite yummy, and maybe Nathan doesn’t have to know that the yummy stuff is fruit!

I’m sorry (for your sake) to say that fruit and veggies are Kaylie’s favorite foods – and cheese – she’s a weird child though – quite weird.

I have come to realize that children can thrive on birdseed alone!

Your apporach is like mine when it comes to undesirable foods. I just keep offering them up. I don’t make a big deal about it, because I want them to have a positive relationship with food.

And now and then, Makenna eats something off the undesirable list

My boys. THE SAME!

They like fruit but the vegtables not so much and don’t try to sneak it in. They are like Sherlock Holmes and can sniff out something foriegn (read healthy) from miles away.

I have heard about grating carrots into spagetti sauce but haven’t tried it. They won’t eat spagetti sauce with ground beef it in either. But tomato sauce is good for you, will Nathan eat that? I can my own tomatoes and make a yummy simple sauce with onion, garlic, canned tomatoes and a bit of tomato paste. Let me know if you want the recipe.

SIGH.

I am so with you on this:-)

Zucchini bread! A great way to sneak in veggies. =)

Eva’s the same way. Well, actually, she doesn’t eat much of anything at all. It’s a constant struggle. I used to do the pumpkin muffins & banana bread too- until she started refusing all baked goods.

Some ideas that work for Eva (sometimes):
-fruit smoothies w/ some spinach thrown in
-frozen peas- served frozen (i know, weird! she thinks everything that comes from the freezer is dessert)

Jessica Seinfeld ( yup, Jerry’s wife) has a new book out called “Deceptively Delicious” and its geared to getting kids to eats stuff without them knowing!! I saw it on Oprah…

i was going to say…just read chrysals! DITTO!

Yeesh… I hear ya. While I have no words or recipes of wisdom, I understand. My middle guy will cry if he even smells most fruit and veggies. He is eight now and not dead yet. I can manage to get him to choke down a smoothie or two here and there but thats about it. Throw out the ideas ladies! I look forward to reading… Will Nathan at least eat fruit leathers?

My daughter’s pediatrician recommended serving ranch with the vegetables. It can be messy, but it works sometimes (note that I said sometimes because it doesn’t always work).

At this moment I am not gloating that Kenny’s favorite thing to eat is broccoli and spinach salad. I wouldn’t do that at all because I love you.

I absolutely would be horrified if you knew that Emelie craves carrots like candy and that Meredith pops cherry tomatoes like gumballs.

You’ve probably already tried it, but I suggest smoothies (but call them milkshakes!). My sister bought a juicer for her little guy. She makes a juice blend of beets, carrots, and different fruits and he LOVES it – it is a treat to him (it usually turns out purple so he thinks it grape juice or something). Unfortunately it is time consuming for my sister because the juicer has to be cleaned. The positive side is that it seems to do wonderful things for his immune system and he rarely gets sick anymore (he got sick ALOT before starting with the fresh juices). If you know someone who you could borrow a juicer from to see if Nathan would drink it, I can get you her ‘recipe’.

Ty has decided that he wont eat meat, he wants to be a vegetarian. Yep and that is going over fantastic with the “great white hunter”

We actually purchased the book that came out before Seinfeld’s called The Sneaky Chef. My husband made a mac and cheese recipe with yam and carrots baked into it. Our 4 year old had no clue. We will be trying more recipes with purees in the future since our son will not eat most veggies. Mind you the other day he decided he likes raw cauliflower and asked for some in his lunch box today! Good luck

My fellow won’t eat vegetables either. My 29-year-old fellow. And while it’s a bit creepy that I try to sneak vegetables into his diet (hello! I’m not his mother!) I also don’t want him to shrivel up and die. So. My food processor has become my partner in crime. I whizz up carrots, celery, onions, tomatoes, peas, spinach (you name it, I’ve whizzed it) into a nasty little paste that goes into everything. It works particularly well in spaghetti sauce but it’s also alright in meatloaf or meatballs. As long as there’s meat or cheese involved, he doesn’t look too closely.

Kynan loves eating bread… with piles of butter on it. The other day I opened the butter container to find little finger prints in it. LOL. Boys will be boys.

If your kids like spaghetti a great suggestion is finely grating carrots into the sauce (they will never know it is there). Mashed cauliflower tastes the same as mashed potatos. Sweet potato fries, but bake them instead of frying. Also, try zucchini bread. And, dipping veggies in dressing is always fun (but, doesn’t always work). Good luck … I am heading in the to picky eater stage, so I might be checking back in on these suggestions!

I’ve heard about that Seinfeld book and I’d like to try it. Thankfully Ben likes a few veggies and i just give him those everyday. Carrots and dip…broccoli with cheeze whiz, celery with peanut butter. Sometimes peas.
Lucky for me Megan will eat anything.

I’ve posted my lasagne recipe on my blog before. It’s based on a flavour sachet that you can’t get over there, but the main thing that sets it apart is the GRATING OF THE VEGETABLES. I add grated carrot, pumpkin, mushrooms and zucchini (courgette) to the minced beef. My kids DO NOT KNOW. They like their veggies, but I enjoy the fact that I can serve this lasagne along with broccoli and beans and peas, and know they are getting about 6-8 different veggies! Makes up for the other times when they do screw their noses up.

I also make fritters which have grated veggies in them, and I’ve even made waffles (savoury ones, with cheese) and added grated veggies to them.

I’m the QUEEN of grating veggies into stuff. Oh yes.

Oh, forgot some fruit ideas for Nathan …

I make ABC muffins – apple, banana & chocolate chips. Kids just see/taste the choc chips and have NO clue there is fruit in there too! Recipe on my blog.

My friend makes a KILLER zucchini chocolate cake. I know!! You can’t even tell it has zucchini in it, but it makes it sooo moist and hey, you’re eating veggies while you eat cake!! Let me know if you want me to get the recipe from her.

I read somebody else’s kid eats frozen peas – so does Tyler. Every night. Before dinner. He also hates cooked carrot but loves raw carrot sticks. So try experimenting with raw foods and maybe get the kids to help cutting them up, they’ll be more inclinced to eat them.

Do your boys like tomatoes? Mine love those cherry toms, they pretend they are “lollies”.

haha … some of these comments are great – I just thought of another thing, kind of a summer thing, but can be done in winter in a warm house – make the smoothie into a popsicle!

ha. I remember your post on not eating too much bread and starches and that is exactly what I had for dinner. Nothing but thick slices of greasy garlic bread. Full Carb overload. Methinks man CAN live on bread alone, but with a very sore tummy.

Have you heard of that book Deceptively Delicious? I’ve seen it advertised on some blogs. It’s full of recipes that sneak vegetable purees in so the kids don’t notice. I leafed through a copy of it at Shoppers and they had Chocolate Chip cookies WITH CHICKPEAS. Gag. But, who knows? There was lots of stuff like brownies with pureed squash in it, etc. It actually looked interesting.

Similar problem here. Here is a recipe I thought sounded really gross but the boys love it with a little maple syrup.
You may have already tried it. Otherwise they would NEVER touch sweet potatos.
3/4 cup mashed cooked sweet potato
1t butter or margarine
2 egg whites
1/12 cups mild
1 cup flour
2 t salt
1/4 t cinnamon.

Those are called Sweet Potato Pancakes by the way, I forgot to mention that.

Hoo-boy, OMSH is mean. I would never dream of telling you that Annalie’s favorite thing is broccoli, or that she is eating celery right this second.

You’re doing your job as long as you keep offering those fruits and veggies. Try not to worry about it too much if they choose not to eat them.

I’m, all about sneaking… and making veggies fun… if that’s possible.

okay- quick question- how in the heck do you get your blog posts (for Dutch Blitz) on your sidebar of your NaBloPoMo? I have been trying but no luck.

I already bought the book, but haven’t opened it yet. I think the ideas are right on. Clearly, still trying to offer said veggies is a good idea as well. Maybe it will pay off in 2019.

But, who really wants to waste that much food offering/refusing? Ugh.

I saw the book on Oprah too, she’s pretty sneaky! It’s one of the books on my wishlist.

I found that a lot of things the kids would not eat cooked, were just fine for them when raw. At the end of the day, if there is only healthy food in the house, they will get hungry enough to eat some of it.
It won’t kill them.
A not bad idea? I gave them each a wee garden plot and helped them tend it, in addition to the big ones for the entire family.
They really enjoyed eating “their” vegetables.

I didn’t have the chance to read everyone else’s comments so this may be a repeat. There’s a book called The Sneaky Chef (or something like that) about sneaking veg into your kids diets. Might be worth a look.

Oh, and veggies and dip. Abby will gobble up anything that is served with dip.

Along with Bribery, we always told Teege about “Growing up Big and Strong” and “Putting Hair On Your Chest” with vegetables. It was a joke, of course… but he got it.

Ditto above! Bought Jessica Seinfeld’s book as well ‘Deceptively Delicious” and made a similar post to this a while back LOL. Also, the smoothie thing would work good for fruits… but veggies? eeks… check out the book though

My second son wouldn’t eat meat when he was a baby and then somewhere around kindergarten I guess he decided he had a life time worth of vegetables and has only eaten meat, corn and potatoes since – no fruit either unless it’s juice. He is now 6′3″ and looks like a linebacker if it stunted his growth I am glad LOL. As for recipes my only suggestion that worked on him, he loves meatloaf and I put a package of the frozen chopped spinach in it. Originally I told him it was “herbs” he now knows it’s spinach but it is too late to quit eating it because he has been eating it for years. If you want the recipe if you think it will help just let me know and I will send it to you. One other thought the V8 fruit juices that contain a serving of vegetables actually taste only like the fruit.

I have to admit that I was one of those kids…I would barely eat anything because I “didn’t like it”. Make me pancakes/waffles and I was set! I’ve definately aquired a taste for more things now – I guess I just grew into it!

OK, im right there with you.. I have one of each. my oldest things the only veggie is a french fry! I know, im wonderful! he wont eat fruit unless its applesauce and wont touch a veggie. this all happened when he was 3, he use to eat anything, then it all landed in the floor, or my lap, i guess which ever was closest. now my youngest son, will eat almost anything.. actually it scares me. I think he may eat trash one day. seriously the child eats tuna, and pinto beans, and salsbury steak and his favorite food is green beans, i mean really, he is a freak of nature kind of kid! i sneak in veggies too, in spagetti sauce especially, i add zucc and squash and they never know it. i tried the smoothie thing with the oldest.. a no go, cause well, you cant trick a kid more than once, after all, most of us arent smarter than a 5th grader.

spaghetti and pizza. : )

Also, a juicer is good. If they like the apple juice, for example, you can sneak in a carrot or two and a celery stalk without anyone knowing the difference.

Then you can take the pulp and stick it in a muffin.

Milkshakes are good.

So is carrot cake. And you can mix fruit in yogurt, top ice cream with it and serve it on a bagel with cream cheese. In fact, you can replace jelly with berries and it is generally a very yummy result.

Also, make them run around and climb and jump and generally wear themselves out. Serve dinner a little late and make sure they are absolutely ravenous. That is the time to introduce new foods. : )