I need kid-friendly healthy recipes

[mo2]

I need to work more fruits and vegetables into the diets of two extremely picky eaters.

 

My 4yo has constipation issues, so I've been trying to slip some more fiber into his diet, but he notices. He flat-out refused the pancakes I had made with whole-wheat flour instead of white. I hadn't told anyone I was using wheat flour, and he didn't see me make them, so apparently he could just tell the difference by looking at them (even though I thought the syrup would hide it). He also has SPD and is weird about textures. He prefers to eat only things with a smooth consistency. The nurse at my doctor's office swore he wouldn't even be able to notice if I slipped some prune juice into his drink, but he did.

 

And my other one--well, she's just picky and has little appetite. I really think she would go all day without eating if I didn't remind her to.

 

Where can I get some healthy recipes for picky eaters? Bonus if they're easy to make!

[amo_mea_filiis.]

For the fiber, you can add a fiber supplement. Switch from white to whole wheat bread. There are lots of soft WW breads. You can blend veggies into sauces.

 

Can you figure out a smoothie for the SPD kid? You can throw all sorts of supplements into that!

[kewb]

When mine were younger I would puree any and all vegetables and add them to tomato sauce. I would also take a jar of babyfood butternut squash and add that to macaroni & cheese. I would add a little at a time because there was a fine line between hiding behind the cheese and overpowering it.

Will they drink smoothies? Mine were quite horrified when they found out there was swiss chard in their smoothies. I have also been known to throw in an avocado. You can hide a multitude of healthy things in a smoothie.

[Sahamamama]

Try to find this book at your library:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Deceptively-Delicious-Simple-Secrets-Eating/dp/0061251348

 

A friend of mine used the ideas in this book to cure her daughter's constipation. Her main idea was to cook up batches of sweet potatoes, put them in little lumps (1/2 cup) on cookie trays, put the trays in the freezer, and (when the lumps were solid) pack the SPs into zipper freezer bags. She could add a frozen lump to a crock pot of stew, veggie soup, meat sauce, meatballs & sauce -- just about anything -- and no one would notice. She could thaw a few lumps and make SP muffins.

 

I tried these ideas, too, but my children do NOT have a problem with constipation. LOL. Here are some other ideas:

 

1. Buy a big bag of apples at Costco/Aldi/Sam's and get the children involved with you making applesauce.

2. Encourage them to drink less juice and more water.

3. Daily Vitamin C.

 

HTH.

Edited September 15, 2011 by Sahamamama

[eternalknot]

FWIW I don't care for whole-wheat either, and I didn't even grow up on white flour. I can see, smell, and taste whole-wheat straight away. I'm not a kid so I'll eat it, but I don't care for it one bit.

 

Can you start by gradually adding in the whole-wheat? one part to four parts white, or something? Maybe try a different variety of flour entirely, such as almond or coconut or something?

 

Muffins and bread loaves are good for your daughter. Pureed veggies in the mix plus chopped fruit or shredded veggies inside. Top with cinnamon crumbles to hide colors and overpower any other taste. I make muffins with protein powder, so they are more dense but my kids don't mind because they don't know any differently LOL. It might be an adjustment for other kids, but my kids' friends all like them. I add in veggies, too, and top with cinnamon crumbles. That went over better than frosting; we're not big on frosting.

 

Soups are good, too, for smoother consistency and hiding veggies. If you're introducing new flavors (squash, tomato, etc.) maybe start off with a thicker soup used as a dip for crackers or established foods they already like.

 

I'm fortunate to have good eaters, but many of my friends struggle. One friend incorporated lots of recipes from that book written by someone Seinfeld (the comic's wife) and she said she had 50-50 luck with the recipes as far as being hits and losers. I bet you could google reviews and recipes from that book. Deceptively Something is what it was called.

[mo2]

For the fiber, you can add a fiber supplement. Switch from white to whole wheat bread. There are lots of soft WW breads. You can blend veggies into sauces.

 

Can you figure out a smoothie for the SPD kid? You can throw all sorts of supplements into that!

 

I do give him a fiber supplement and we already do eat whole wheat bread. He doesn't eat much bread, though.

 

When mine were younger I would puree any and all vegetables and add them to tomato sauce. I would also take a jar of babyfood butternut squash and add that to macaroni & cheese. I would add a little at a time because there was a fine line between hiding behind the cheese and overpowering it.

Will they drink smoothies? Mine were quite horrified when they found out there was swiss chard in their smoothies. I have also been known to throw in an avocado. You can hide a multitude of healthy things in a smoothie.

 

I have beein adding babyfood prunes to our brownies (his favorite treat) but I hadn't thought about other babyfoods. Good idea.

 

I should try smoothies. I've never made one.

 

Try to find this book at your library:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Deceptively-Delicious-Simple-Secrets-Eating/dp/0061251348

 

A friend of mine used the ideas in this book to cure her daughter's constipation. Her main idea was to cook up batches of sweet potatoes, put them in little lumps (1/2 cup) on cookie trays, put the trays in the freezer, and (when the lumps were solid) pack the SPs into zipper freezer bags. She could add a frozen lump to a crock pot of stew, veggie soup, meat sauce, meatballs & sauce -- just about anything -- and no one would notice. She could thaw a few lumps and make SP muffins.

 

I tried these ideas, too, but my children do NOT have a problem with constipation. LOL. Here are some other ideas:

 

1. Buy a big bag of apples at Costco/Aldi/Sam's and get the children involved with you making applesauce.

2. Encourage them to drink less juice and more water.

3. Daily Vitamin C.

 

HTH.

 

My library doesn't have the book, and I can't decide if it's worth purchasing. There are a lot of negative reviews on Amazon about the taste of the recipes.

 

Thanks for the other tips. I *know* he is not drinking enough, and we're working on that. Does vitamin C help with constipation? I hadn't heard that. I wonder if there is enough vit C in his daily multivit.

 

 

Muffins and bread loaves are good for your daughter. Pureed veggies in the mix plus chopped fruit or shredded veggies inside. Top with cinnamon crumbles to hide colors and overpower any other taste. I make muffins with protein powder, so they are more dense but my kids don't mind because they don't know any differently LOL. It might be an adjustment for other kids, but my kids' friends all like them. I add in veggies, too, and top with cinnamon crumbles. That went over better than frosting; we're not big on frosting.

 

This sounds like a good idea. I should google for recipes, because I wouldn't have the faintest idea how much/what kind of veggies I could hide in there... or how to make cinnamon crumbles. :)

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

Soups are an awesome way to hide veggies. I make a killer chicken noodle soup, but what the kids don't know is that I puree carrots, onions, celery and parsely in the food processor and it cooks down into the broth. They only know about the carrots and the parsley, which is fine with them. If they knew about the celery and onion, they wouldn't eat it.

 

I've also put pureed cauliflower in the chicken broth. They never noticed.

 

You can also puree many different kinds of veggies and add them to spaghetti sauce.

[stripe]

I just got a copy of this at the pediatrician's office:

http://www.chopchopmag.org

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I just got a copy of this at the pediatrician's office:

http://www.chopchopmag.org

 

Oh yeah, I saw that at our ped's office, too. Ds1 was with me, and he enjoyed looking at it. OP- Maybe you can get your ds involved in the meal planning and cooking and maybe he'll be more willing to try some of the things.

 

I checked out Deceptively Delicious from my library several times. The kids only liked about 1/3 of the recipes. The chocolate chip cookies with the chick peas in them were a hit, though.

[mo2]

I just got a copy of this at the pediatrician's office:

http://www.chopchopmag.org

 

 

Hey, there are some recipes there I would like to try! Thanks.

[mo2]

I checked out Deceptively Delicious from my library several times. The kids only liked about 1/3 of the recipes. The chocolate chip cookies with the chick peas in them were a hit, though.

 

Really? Because that was on the recipes people were reacting negatively to in the Amazon reviews. They said the chickpeas got really hard.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

Really? Because that was on the recipes people were reacting negatively to in the Amazon reviews. They said the chickpeas got really hard.

 

That's weird. I wonder if they used dried chick peas that hadn't been soaked and cooked? I did puree the chick peas a little bit before putting them in the dough. My kids (and I before I cut out gluten) gobbled them up like there was no tomorrow.

[mo2]

That's weird. I wonder if they used dried chick peas that hadn't been soaked and cooked? I did puree the chick peas a little bit before putting them in the dough. My kids (and I before I cut out gluten) gobbled them up like there was no tomorrow.

 

 

I have to admit (embarrassingly) that I don't even know what a chick pea is, where to find it in the grocery store, or how to prepare them. I guess this will be a learning experience for me.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I have to admit (embarrassingly) that I don't even know what a chick pea is, where to find it in the grocery store, or how to prepare them. I guess this will be a learning experience for me.

 

:lol: A chick pea is a kind of legume, and like any other dried bean, you have to soak them and cook them to soften them up. They are also called garbanzo beans. You may have seen them in salad bars. :D Hummus is made out of them with sesame paste, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. They are deeee- licious!

 

ETA: You can also buy them in cans, already soft and ready to go!

[Trish]

:lol: A chick pea is a kind of legume, and like any other dried bean, you have to soak them and cook them to soften them up. They are also called garbanzo beans. You may have seen them in salad bars. :D Hummus is made out of them with sesame paste, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. They are deeee- licious!

 

ETA: You can also buy them in cans, already soft and ready to go!

 

Yes, they're in the canned veggie aisle next to the beans!

[mo2]

:lol: A chick pea is a kind of legume, and like any other dried bean, you have to soak them and cook them to soften them up. They are also called garbanzo beans. You may have seen them in salad bars. :D Hummus is made out of them with sesame paste, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. They are deeee- licious!

 

ETA: You can also buy them in cans, already soft and ready to go!

 

Yes, they're in the canned veggie aisle next to the beans!

 

 

Thanks. Are the canned ones just as good as the dried?

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

Thanks. Are the canned ones just as good as the dried?

 

Yep. And no prep time! Bonus!

[chickenpatty]

Black Bean Brownies would have fiber.

 

Nuts and popcorn would be good, too, though I don't know if they'd fit in the "smooth" category.

[ravinlunachick]

You can also roast the canned chickpeas. Open the can, rinse and pat dry. Remove the "skins" , toss with some olive oil and kosher salt, and roast at 400 until they are ice and crunchy (about 15 min IIRC). It makes a nice crunchy snack that my very picky kids happily gobble up.

 

You can hide a lot of greens in a smoothie by adding blueberries. My dd won't drink anything green, but purple is just fine.

 

I considered the Sneaky Chef/Deceptively Delicious stuff, but then I realized that I would be doing all that prep work for the equivalent of a few TBS of veggies in an entire dish. Not worth it, IMO. I just sneak in spinach where I can, and use plenty of cheese to hide other veggies when needed.

[Photo Ninja]

I made 'mashed potatoes' - well they looked like them and tasted a bit different, but my kids loved them. I cooked cauliflower in some water till it was soft, then masked it (no lumps!) and mixed it with milk, butter and cheese, like you do mashed potatoes. My picky-about-veggies dc at it and had seconds, thinking it was mashed potatoes. It doesn't taste exactly like potatoes, but is pretty close with the added items.

 

My dc didn't like cooked veggies much at all, but would eat many raw if they had enough Ranch dressing to dip them in.

 

I tossed spinach leaves into smoothies. As long as the cups were opaque and have lids, my dc didn't even know. They do it themselves now because they realized they can't taste the spinach at all.

 

How about letting your ds drink some V8 Fusion? I know it isn't fresh, but there are nutrients and it tastes great. As long as he doesn't see the container he won't know it has veggies in it because all you taste is the fruit (like making a smoothie at home).