(source: Wegmans)
How do you get your kids to eat more fruits and vegetables? You need to be patient, creative and sometimes downright sneaky. Let us help! Remember the old Paul Simon song? We've come up with "50 Ways to Eat More Produce". You know—Get off the jam, Sam. More bok choy, Roy. Slip in a bean, Dean, and read on for more?
Use fresh fruit instead of jam in peanut butter sandwiches.
Slip vegetables into sandwiches. Go light on luncheon meats and add lots of fresh vegetables such as cucumbers, grated carrots, or zucchini.
Top cheese sandwiches with pizza sauce and thinly sliced peppers, tomatoes and mushrooms.
Add tomatoes, celery and frozen peas to spaghetti sauce; spinach or peas to lasagna and frozen mixed vegetables or canned tomatoes to macaroni and cheese.
Add handfuls of frozen vegetables to noodle soups or pasta mixes.
Keep cut up veggies in the fridge for snacks.
For fast pizzas, spread English muffins or pitas with spaghetti sauce or Italian-style tomato soup. Scatter with sliced hot dogs, peppers and mushrooms.
If your child doesn't like vegetables, offer fruit instead.
Jazz up unsweetened cereal with slices of peaches, strawberries or bananas.
Top peanut butter sandwiches with raisins, bananas or apples slices.
Mix fruit, low fat milk and ice in a blender for a breakfast shake.
Spread peanut butter on apple slices for a snack.
Have your child help prepare the vegetables. With a plastic pizza cutter, kids can cut bell peppers. Using fingers, kids can snap off beans and asparagus ends.
If texture is an issue, serve vegetables in a very smooth puree. To save time, consider using jars of baby food - carrots, squash peas, and add them to foods like gravies, soups, tomato sauces and Mac 'n Cheese.
Sneak spinach in between layers of cheese in a grilled cheese sandwich.
Top hot cereal with a smiley face made out of fruit. Consider bananas, apples, oranges or plums.
For older kids (age 4 and up), mix raisins or cut up dried fruit with presweetened cereal for an on the run snack.
Serve applesauce or jarred baby fruit sauces as an accompaniment to meat.
For older kids (aged 4 and up) serve applesauce, fresh fruit or Waldorf salad (made from apples, nuts, and raisins) for dinner instead of a cooked vegetable.
When making muffins or cakes, substitute applesauce or pureed fruits in place of some of the butter or margarine in the recipe.
Serve yogurt as a dip with fresh fruit and ranch dressing with cut up veggies.
Always keep a bowl of fresh fruit on the counter within easy reach.
Limit the amount you offer to a picky eater. Give them one to two teaspoons only and they'll be more likely to finish and try again.
Make eating vegetables fun! Play Follow the Leader where everyone has to follow what the leader has on his fork (and everyone gets to be a leader). Another is Who Can Make the Loudest Crunch? played with carrots, celery and other crunchy fruits or veggies.
Slip peas into cottage cheese, rice or Mac n Cheese. You can also use finely chopped carrots, celery cucumber and bell peppers.
Add shredded carrots or zucchini to ground beef and make into burgers.
Make funny faces or animals on pita, bagels or English Muffins by using an assortment of veggie toppings.
Top an ice cream or frozen yogurt sundae with cut up fruit or berries.
Create fun names for foods—applesauce soup, carrot pennies, broccoli trees.
Stuff celery with shredded vegetables mixed into peanut butter, cream cheese or tuna salad.
Serve a meal made from foods with similar shapes—meatballs, cherry tomatoes, peas or sticks of ham, carrots and pretzels.
Use cookie cutters, a parer or a ripple cutter to make vegetables into fun shapes.
Make a rainbow meal by choosing different colored foods. Yellow squash, orange carrots, cherry red tomatoes, green honeydew melons, purple grapes, blueberries.
Make a shish kebab by skewering bite sized pieces of meat and vegetables on a stick.
Sweeten carrots, winter squash or cabbage with a drizzle of maple syrup, brown sugar or orange juice.
Add finely chopped red pepper or grated carrots to salsa.
Melt a favorite cheese such as cheddar over cauliflower or broccoli.
Serve dried fruit as a treat rather than candy or cookies.
Puree a package of frozen spinach and add to your favorite brownie or devil's food cake mix. No one will taste it—really!
Add finely chopped spinach to your favorite sour cream and onion dip. Serve with bell peppers, broccoli and cherry tomatoes.
Plant a vegetable garden with your child. Homegrown foods are often more appealing than store bought ones.
Serve vegetable juice one night instead of a vegetable.
Place juice in a cup and freeze to make juice pops. Add sticks for handles when juice just begins to freeze.
Make Mac n Cheese healthier by mixing pureed cooked carrots, sweet potatoes or butternut squash into the cheese sauce. The colors blend beautifully.
Instead of using mayonnaise on a BLT, try mashed avocado.
Add pureed roasted red pepper to jarred pizza sauce.
Combine orange juice and sliced strawberries in a snack size resealable bag. Seal, freeze and instant Popsicle!
Spaghetti squash is fun for kids to eat. After cooking, the squash separates into strands resembling pasta. Top with cheese or spaghetti sauce.
Cook and mash parsnips along with potatoes. Kids will love the added sweetness.
Instead of cream or milk, thicken stews and soups with a mixture of cooked, pureed cauliflower and white beans.