If you have one of those kids who just refuse to eat anything that even remotely resembles a vegetable, then you’re going to need to take the good stuff undercover. Here are 10 easy ways to get your little people to eat more healthily without them even knowing it.
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Peanut butter switch
You can get started with healthy peanut butter replacement your kids will love. Seed butter has more protein and fewer carbohydrates, so youngsters will feel fuller for longer. A multi-seed butter is a great option as it is nutritionally dense, and is perfect for upping the daily vitamin and mineral content.
Sneaky zucchini
This one is super simple. Simply take your regular pasta sauce recipe and shred zucchini into it. This works well for virtually any recipe that calls for canned tomatoes and it cooks down so fine kids will have to look real hard to notice a difference.
Switch greens
This one simply involves switching out the basil and uses nutrient-packed kale, instead. Keep your pine nuts, parmesan, garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice, throw in some kale, and blitz. They’ll never suspect a thing!
Secret smoothies
What’s better than a thick and fruity smoothie? One secretly packed with healthy food, that’s what. You can throw some spinach, nuts, and seeds, or even a dollop of the seed butter mentioned above, into your regular mix and they’ll just taste the fruit the same as always.
Switching out dairy for an oat, nut, or seed milk will also make the whole thing healthier.
Creative cookies
This one is super sneaky. Taking a childhood favorite and making it healthy – be brave, they will never realize you just made their cookies and milk more healthy.
This take on the classic chocolate chip cookie packs in sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, and rolled oats for a big boost of nutrition. You’ll even feel happy to let them have seconds.
Get more of the grain
Taking no effort whatsoever, just pick up whole grain pasta instead of white. During its processing, white pasta loses many of its nutrients resulting in a plate of carbs and little else. The wholegrain option is less processed so retains much more including iron, magnesium, and zinc, along with fiber, complex carbs, and protein.
Update the classic
Kids just love a steamy, creamy bowl of mac and cheese and this tip makes no difference to its deliciousness but ramps up the nutritious-ness.
Simply make your go-to mac and cheese and right at the end stir in your pureed squash. This recipe gives you the option to use raw squash, pre-roasted squash or puree, or canned squash. It also suggests butternut squash, but you can really use any squash you have to hand.
Colorful chips
Instead of your regular potato chips, switch to a more colorful and nutrient-packed option by making some root vegetable chips instead. Go for a mix of beets, carrot, and parsnips for a range of flavor and color your kids will love.
To avoid arguments at the dinner table, use stealth to improve their health and pack their diet with the good stuff on the down low.
