Veggies for Eating Out

[Michele Lin]

Hi Moms,

A good mommy-friend visited yesterday and she gave me some great tips that I wanted to share.

When eating out, she brings some prepared veggies so that her kids have something to eat immediately, have familiar food, and get get some veggies into their diet.  Plus they have something to do while waiting for the food to arrive... instead of dropping all the silverware onto the floor and banging the plate on the table...

She also said that she cooks veggies (ex. broccoli) in 2-day servings and keeps them in the fridge.  It takes 10 minutes to wash dishes or wash out the kids' lunch containers... so she steams some veggies while she's already working in the kitchen.  

My friend was also around when Alex decided to start spitting out the orange membranes onto the floor.  I was trying to tell him to put those pieces on a napkin or on the table.... and then my friend said something like, "Are you going to eat the orange like me?" and she made a fun gobbling sound and swooshed her orange segment into her mouth.  Alex quickly forgot about the fun game of spitting orange stuff onto the floor and then started swooping orange segments into his mouth.

Hope everybody is doing well!

(Birgit -- one side effect of Alex starting daycare in August is that he's had a cough/runny nose for 4 straight weeks now... he keeps getting one cold after another.  I'll see if a humidifier helps at all.)

I know you're busy... but would love to see pics of the kids/2nd babies if you have a chance!

Take care,

Michele

[Moy, Jessica]

Brilliant friend of yours Michele!!

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[Nikoletta Friedberg]

Two year olds eat broccoli?  

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Nikoletta Friedberg

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[Birgit Bauer]

Kat Loves broccoli. Frozen and cooked. No green beans though and no fresh veggies EVER! 

Also she eats pretty much everything as long as it's frozen. She is a very special one. ;-)

- Birgit

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**Sent from my iPhone**

[Julie]

Birgit,

If Kat loves broccoli, then you should try cauliflower if you haven't already.  Eli also loves broccoli.  I'm lucky that he eats anything and everything.

Michele,

Thanks for sharing.  Does Alex like tofu?  I know it's not veggie, but you can try firm tofu, cut into cubes, tossed with cubed avocado drizzled with some soy sauce and sesame oil.  It's one of my kids' faves and good source of calcium too.

Julie

[Bianca Hester]

The only way I can get Elodie to eat broccoli is if I put golden raisins in with them. We call the golden raisins "honey pots" and the broccoli "little honey trees". (Yes, she is a huge Pooh bear fan). This works about once every week or two. 

For green beans I put slivered almonds in there. That is the only way she will eat those. 

Vegetables are not her favorite. Sometimes, I make smoothies and throw in tons of kale or spinach and that goes over well. 

Thanks for the other ideas. I need all the help I can get in the "vegetable department". 

Bianca

[Michelle Ritenour]

Oooh great ideas, Bianca! Will have to try that! I also do the kale and spinach smoothies. They are a big hit but I think the girls just like watching me use the Vitamix. Both girls really like shelled edamame because it's fun to pick up. I also found that if I chop up broccoli really well in super cheesy mac n cheese, nobody even notices that there are veggies there.

Thanks for sharing all the ideas. My home is not very veggie-friendly so I could use some inspiration.

Michelle

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Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 20:28:03 -0700
Subject: Re: [Mom's Group] Veggies for Eating Out
From: bianca...@gmail.com
To: eatsle...@googlegroups.com

[Birgit Bauer]

How different children are. You guys hide the veggies, I have to hide the meat. I usually hide tiny peaces between carrots and peas or corn and feed her while she watches curious George. 

And even if I go thru all that trouble, she sometimes spits everything out, pops in the veggies again and makes a pile of the meat. 

At least she started drinking milk on a regular basis, that's already progress. 

- Birgit

** Please excuse typos. Sent from my iPhone **

[Michele]

Thanks for sharing the suggestions!  I tried the tofu avocado and loved it. Alex didn't touch it but he probably will eventually. I'll have to try the mac n cheesy broccoli. And I tried one smoothie with kale but neither Alex nor I liked it. Will try again. 

And I lost the thread on Birgit's big move. That's exciting!  I find it amusing that both you and Michelle waited until you had two kiddies before packing up your whole house and moving- you two are very adventurous and ambitious.  Sounds like it will be a great experience for the kids. 

Oh-- Birgit, back to the food- have you tried giving Kat fish?  Tilapia?  Alex liked it and I was told that kids like the texture of fish. 

Have a good week, Moms!

Thank you, again, for all the tips and for the Halloween pics on the other thread!

Michele

Sent from my iPhone

[Nikoletta Friedberg]

In an effort to "catch" Zachary up to your broccoli eating kiddos - I tried this recipe and it worked!  He loved it!  I made twice the amount and froze most of it. 

Granted, I'm 'sneaking' the broccoli in, he's still eating broccoli!  HA - take that, Zachary!

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Nikoletta Friedberg

[Michele]

I will give them a try, too.  Thx for sharing, Nikoletta!

I can see Alex falling into a routine of eating until he's barely full throughout the day. He now opens the refrigerator and helps himself. A lot of his requests are sugary, so I will need to learn how to minimize the sugary foods that come into the house. 

We offer many half-sugar juice pouches when Alex has a fever and then they become a habit after the fever is gone. I'm going to look for the lower sugar Siggi's yogurt sticks to replace the sugary yoplait yogurt tubes we currently have. 

We also have gotten into the habit of stocking those Costco yogurt drinks for kids- which Alex seems to use as meal replacement therapy after he decides that whatever I'm eating for a meal is not desirable. 

So our list of Alex-Approved meals:

Rice and seaweed w/ avocado

Eggs & potatoes

Fried rice

Tilapia Fish

But we usually just give him whatever we happen to be eating... Hence the meal replacement yogurt drinks...

Michele

Sent from my iPhone

[Julie]

It looks yummy!  Sorry I have no such recipes to share.  I wasn't so nice with my boys.  They had to eat the veggie in its natural state before they can eat anything else.  I never took the effort to hide the veggies, so they knew exactly what they were eating.  Many a dinner lasted an hour or longer until they broke and ate the veggie.  They have no recollection of any of it because it all happened before their first memory.  By then, they were eating spinach, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, peas, carrots, mushrooms, etc.  

I did try to pretend the veggies were something else, like green beans were swords/light saber, and we held them with our fingers to battle and the winner got the losers' weapon (so I'd lose on purpose and they had to eat my green bean).  Broccoli and cauliflower were trees, and we'd plant them into the bowl of rice and the lumber jack had to go to work and chop down the trees.

There are certain vegetables that my boys don't like, but I'm happy with the variety that they do eat so I don't force every single veggie.  My unconventional method worked for my boys, but I know it's not the way the books teach you.

Julie