This is a sponsored post from BlogHer and Tropicana.
Feeding your children healthy food can be a challenge, but really rewarding! I'm sure we can all agree that getting proper nutrients in every meal is ideal, but what do you do when your kids aren’t exactly eating their fruits and vegetables? Well, it's easy to make healthy meals and snacks that are full of flavor too!
It's amazing what we do for our kids. Whenever I am cooking a meal when I am pregnant, like now, I think about how much my unborn child would benefit from the foods I am about to eat. Just how many vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients will my baby be getting? At this point, I can control what nutrients my baby will be receiving but what to do when they start to grow up and tell you that they don't like apples or broccoli?
Well, here are some of my ideas for children who are picky eaters:
Add some honey or fruit to a bowl of oatmeal to make it more appealing.
Add fresh fruit to their cereal or yogurt.
Try a breakfast or lunch using a whole wheat wrap with turkey, eggs and cheese. It is packed with protein and fiber.
Start the day with a glass of fresh orange juice.
If you make tasty snacks your kids will never guess how healthy they really are. Like fresh fruit purees, fresh fruit popsicles, frozen bananas and strawberries on a stick.
Keep organic baby carrots in the house for snacking during the day.
Hummus is a high-fiber nutrient in which they can dip fresh vegetables.
Add vegetables like broccoli, peas or spinach to mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and meatloaf.
Blend vegetables into their favorite tomato sauce.
Make pizzas with your kids and ask them to add their favorite vegetables on top. Kids love to make pizza and eat their own creations.
Eat together as a family and role model good eating habits.
Okay guys, those are my tips for parents to help get your kids eating fruits, vegetables, and other nutritious foods without complaining...as much! Now, for a chance to win a $100 Visa Gift Card from BlogHer and Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice, leave a comment on this post with your tips for how you do the same for your kids.
The sweepstakes: 4/11/2011-5/9/2011
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selected.
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Tropicana helps put the “good” in morning.
Tropicana Pure Premium provides an array of 100 percent orange juice varieties to help meet individuals' nutrition and lifestyle needs. All options are nutrient-dense, with one eight-ounce glass delivering two fruit servings and a full day’s supply of vitamin C.*For more information visit them here:
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Pledge to squeeze more fruits and veggies into your day and Tropicana will
help kids in need. Tropicana will donate one 8-oz glass of orange juice to
the USDA School Breakfast and Summer Food Service programs, up to 184,375
8-oz glasses. Please pledge by going to http://bit.ly/gAU7Eq. Promo will end 12/31/11.
I wrote this post while participating in the Tropicana Pure Premium/BlogHer program on behalf of Tropicana Pure Premium. I received product information to facilitate my post and monetary compensation for the time to write my post.
Bart
Cooked greens go in practically everything and don't add weird flavor usually.
Susan
Keeping fresh veggies around is a great tip.
Janssen
I love cooked greens - you can add spinach or chard so easily to practically anything.
Kerri Stewart
I tweeted!
@Naya2000
gab UNDERSCORE lyn AT msn DOT com
twitter.com/#!/Naya2000/status/57949414756585472
Kerri Stewart
I see you do like I do!
My kids are okay eaters. They like fruits & vegetables, however they LOVE pasta. To increase their vegetable intake, I add vegetables like broccoli to their pasta and serve a salad with dinner. My girls love salad!
gab UNDERSCORE lyn AT msn DOT com
@Naya2000 on Twitter
DD
i find that you can put almost anything into a smoothie and picky kids will eat it.... not only like fruits and veggies, but also like flax powder, fiber, etc. Go $100!!!!! =)
Simply Life
I don't have kids but with kids I do know - I think make your own pizzas and "fruit kebabs" always make eating healthier foods more attractive to kids!
Leah
Thank you for the post Erica. You have great ideas; one that i use all the time is adding finely chopped veggies to pasta, potatoes, etc...
I've had luck with the following veggies creations with my picky little eaters:
Bake and then puree vegetables (tomato, eggplant, onion, squash) into a soup.
Baby, organic raw spinach with their favorite dressing, Italian or ranch.
Sweet potatoes, sliced thick and baked, plain or with a sweet or savory topping.
Also, having a garden and getting kids involved in it or taking them to local gardens and farms for education can increase their interest in fresh produce.
LENA
yo a mis hijos les preparo muchas sopas de verduras en crema 😉 asi no pueden separar las verduras para no comerselas! y las adoran <3
LUCIA MILLAN
Sus recetas además de ser nutritivas son deliciosas y cuando se acompañan con Orange Juice Tropicana, son espectaculares, aún para los niños
Tabathia B
tweet
twitter.com/#!/ChelleB36/status/57670223679066112
tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com
Tabathia B
I love to give my kids dips with fruits like cottage cheese or caramel for apples
tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com
Denise M.
I don't have kids of my own, but I often watch my friends' kids, and I've found that putting a slice of a sweet fruit inside of an otherwise savory sandwich (peanut butter and pineapple slices, anyone?) often does the trick. I also have gotten them (and myself) hooked on yogurt raisins, and the candied fruits and veggies that they sell in bulk at Whole Foods.
Junia
I make smoothies, and also I have them help make our meals, I really thought it sounded corny when I heard ppl say that, but it does really work, they are proud to say they made it and are more willing to eat it...
Mami2jcn
tweet-twitter.com/mami2jcn/status/57477867646369792
Mami2jcn
I get my kids to eat their fruit in fruit salads and smoothies.
Love your site! My mother's family is from Medellin.