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
Rules:
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methods:
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on this post
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this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about
an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older
Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.
You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be
selected.
For Official Rules Click here.
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.
ria
twitter.com/#!/rsmc1/status/65242060508250114
ria
I add fruit and veggies wherever possible- veggie pizzas, chicken/veggie tortillas, squash/pumpkin muffins etc
rmartinclarke @ gmail.com
kristy
I make pizzas with lots of vegies and have them help
Mary M
Tweeted too
twitter.com/#!/marybug2/status/64103224856150016
marybug2 @ yahoo . com
Mary M
My kids were not to much of picky eaters. They actually loved fruits and vegetables so I was pretty lucky in that area. They always got their juice and fruit in the mornings and the veggies at night for dinner. They usually ate it without to much coaching from me, thank god.
marybug2@yahoo.com
Jayne
Tweeted.
twitter.com/#!/Jayne_Martin/status/63748422708109314
Jayne
We have a veggie garden. The kids enjoy eating what they've planted and watched grow.
Bonnie
I think eating as a family, and serving as a role model is one of the best ways to get the children to try new foods. Also, adding veggies to regular disshes like macaroni, and meatloaf is a good idea!!
Rease
Chopping up veggies super small and cooking them into things is a great way to trick your kids into eating them. If you chop them too big they are likely to eat around them.
Steven M Cote
In our house I'm the picky one so my wife makes us stuff like: Orange & carrot juice, Beetroot to orange juice, smoothies with fresh fruit and yogurt, she minces the veggies & adds them to soups and sauces so i will eat them with not noticing them. She has also got me eating spinach without a problem... She adds flavor to the veggies to keep them from being boring and also tries to keep them slightly crunchy so they aren't a gooey mess. The main in our household is the presentation, she always makes the food look nice there by attracting curiosity and temptation, our child has not been picky yet so I couldn't say much for her. I have a wonderful wife! 🙂 hehehe
Mary
I put extra veggies into just about everything I make.
Tina M
twitter.com/#!/HappyTina0115/status/63439926502494208
Tina M
I put veggies and fruit in smoothies.
Samantha Lee
I try to eat fruits and vegetables every single day, with my meals that I prepare.
LAMusing
I don't have kids, but I remember as a kid my mom always kept fresh fruit around (which I loved) and sometimes made things like baked apples or warm cinnamon peaches. Veggies were a little more difficult until Dad started a garden - after helping to grow them I couldn't wait to eat them!
Norma
Thankfully my daughter loved fruits and most veggies when she was a child - she thought fruit was a dessert, and I kept veggies simple and stuck to the ones she liked (carrots, peas, corn, yams, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes) rather than trying to make her eat the ones she didn't like. (zucchini, cauliflower, cooked spinach). I added cheese or something special to ones she had mixed reactions to - like grilled Parmesan asparagus and artichokes with garlic butter.