Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Mommy's being sneaky....with vegetables!

I have seen several posts lately about toddlers being picky when it comes to eating and I have to say, I'm so glad mine isn't the only one! Ethan started out being a fantastic eater. He loved practically everything, well, except zucchini and mashed potatoes. At this point in life I really can't get him to eat much more than fruit and dairy with a side of carbs every now and then. 


Flashback: The zucchini disaster of 2011.


I don't really care if he eats meat or not at this point. I figure he will grow into it at some point and if he doesn't there are ways around it, but the lack of vegetables in his diet is really bugging me. Not to mention that a diet consisting of all fruits and dairy is hard on his system and my nose if you get what I'm saying. 


My other issue is that I feel like he wants to eat ALL.THE.TIME. When exactly did my baby become a teenage boy??? I'm constantly racking my brain for something else to feed him besides what he constantly asks for..."berries". I mean come on, you can't eat "berries" for every single snack and meal right? Right. 


So, last weekend while we were at the store I found something that I could finally give him that contained vegetables, but tasted like "berries". A miracle I'd call it. 





I know, it's green, but surprisingly he didn't even hesitate. It's got all kinds of goodness in there just check out the ingredients and boosts here. They have a couple of other veggie smoothies in the line that we haven't checked out just yet, one to get your reds in and the other that is more your yellow/orange veggies. I plan on getting those soon.

Now that he is into drinking these, I'm more seriously contemplating a blender to make my own at home. To be honest, my husband and I probably don't always get all the fruits and veggies we need either and this seems like such an easy and great tasting way to do it! Do any of you make veggie smoothies? If so do you have blender recommendations. Mine bit the dust quite awhile ago and it seems like every blender out there has mixed reviews...I'd love to hear your thoughts. I was contemplating the Kitchenaid Blender but I'm still not sold yet!

What sneaky ways do you get veggies into your toddlers diet???


10 comments:

  1. We are fighting the same veggie-battle with Connor right now! I have started giving him the organic squeeze pouches JUST to get some vegetables in him. Love this recommendation - going on my grocery list now! :)

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  2. Laura, go over to Annies-eats.com and search for her Green Monster Smoothie recipe. It's the best and is so healthy. I don't add the honey (it's sweet enough without it) and I do add the omega 3 (def add if Ethan isn't eating meat). Spencer LOVES it and I do too.

    Does Ethan like scrambled eggs? I always add frozen mixed veggies (minus the green beans b/c SYT won't touch them) and cheese to his scrambled eggs- easy and healthy. I also add veggies to spaghetti sauce. SYT loves frozen peas (yes, straight from the freezer). I have two of my friends' kids hooked on this as well. Give it a try! You can try making zucchini bread (with or without choc chips) or make the same recipe into muffins so that you can keep them in the freezer and just pop them out for a quick breakfast. The organic pouches are great but expensive. SYT does love them though! You can also try mixing up acorn squash with a little brown sugar and butter and applesauce to see if he'll eat it that way. GL!!!!!

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  3. Definitely the organic squeeze pouches over here! Meyer loves them:)

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  4. Okay Eme is the SAME WAY. Fruits and dairy (and "snacks"...pretzels, fishies, crackers)...pretty much only. The lack of vegetables bugs me too. But she will drink ANYTHING (sort of) and loves smoothies. So I want to try these now because I had NO idea they were good.

    Yay!

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  5. I started drinking Naked drinks not too long ago...mostly due to my inability to feed myself properly during the day. Apparently scarfing down a pepsi and PB&J at the counter doesn't make for a wholesome diet. I won't even try convince myself that i'll make time for juicing things myself, but let us know how it goes!!

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  6. I can't recommend a blender, but we have been making green smoothies FOREVER. This mornings was banana, blueberries, almond milk, spinach, and ground flax seeds. When you first start, use spinach and Romaine - they are the milder of the greens!

    Tip to save money - buy the greens on sale and pop them in the freezer. Then you can just pull out a handful at a time. For blending purposes, they freeze very well!

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  7. I need to try these! Kat at Living Like the Kings makes smoothies and was just telling me about certain packets... have you heard of those? What about using a Cuisinart so you could also chop veggies, etc?

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  8. I need to find these and try them! Tommy is an excellent fruit eater, but the closest thing to veggies are french fries...LOL! As I was reading this I said, "Ooooo!" out loud and Tommy asked "what is it? " I showed him the picture and said it was a new juice we were going to try that had pears and kiwi in it! He wrinkled his nose up and said No! LOL! I am still buying them to try them out! I think he knows there is more in there than the fruits!

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  9. We've been making green smoothies too. I add vanilla (or any flavor you enjoy) Greek yogurt to get some protein in there as well. We also add ground flax seed with our spinach.

    I will have to try this beverage though!

    Does he like raw veggies?

    What about dipping them in hummus?

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  10. Girl! Make smoothies .. I bet he'll love them, you can mask so much under the "berries" and that's all he'll be able to taste. Do you follow Jess (Wrangling Chaos, formerly Dude and Sweeties?) she posted a how to for making frozen veggie cubes. I made them and put them in E's smoothies - so she gets beets, spinach, carrots, sweet potato and squash in her smoothies. And also, raw spinach is very easily disguised.

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