Hidden Vegetables

Hidden Vegetables:

I was chopping up carrots for dinner and as I threw them into the taco meat, I thought "I am a sneaky mom!".  Before having children, I always told myself that I would never hide the vegetables in other foods but that my children would eat them.  Ha!  Buddy was a really good eater until around two years old and then he started balking at the vegetables on his plate.  Jon and I started trying to sneak them by him in with other bites but he eventually caught on to that trick.  Instead of having a huge battle at supper time over eating carrots, I started sneaking them into other dishes.  I still offer them to him on the plate but I'm not as worried about making sure he eats them because I know that the main dish has a serving of veggies for everyone. 

I don't blame Buddy though, I grew up in the South and discovered that the only way I truly enjoy to eat veggies is soaked in butter, dipped in ranch, or sprinkled liberally with salt.  Jon on the other hand just likes the taste of the vegetable by itself.  Sometimes, hiding the vegetables in our dishes is as much for me as for Buddy.  On the plus side, Buddy ate his entire soft taco tonight and had a full serving of peas and carrots without blinking an eye!

A few examples of where I hide veggies:
Lasagna, Spaghetti, or anything with a tomato sauce -- finely diced or pureed carrots
Enchiladas -- finely diced broccoli and carrots
Tacos -- finely diced carrots in the meat and pureed peas in the soft taco
Grilled cheese -- finely diced broccoli

Minibooks:

We'll be traveling for Christmas and I've been working on finding Buddy a few small and light activities to pack in our carry-on and for layovers.  I found some great Minibooks over at BibleStoryPrintables.com that print on one sheet of paper and fold into a book.  (How to Fold Tutorial)  I printed them in black and white and plan on coloring them ahead of time or even allowing him to color as he reads on the plane.  If you choose, the books can be printed in color also.  Buddy just was not thrilled about coloring today. 

If you have any great ideas of you get your children to eat vegetables or activities for travel, I'd love to hear from you in the comment section!