Veggie ideas?

ElizabethS · #1 June 22nd, 2011, 04:19 AM

Ethan is getting really really bad about eating any veggies at all. He won't eat green beans, will only very rarely still eat peas and carrots. He's too young for corn. What will your lil ones eat veggie-wise that they really like? Ideas here help!

dinamommy · #2 June 22nd, 2011, 06:40 AM

I'm a veggie sneaker. LOL! Eli feeds himself for the most part, but if I see that he's picking out all the meat and bread or something, then I'll feed him some of what he likes, along with some veggies. I get quite a bit down that way. I've done that with all my kids and the older ones really love veggies, especially Bella! Have you tried baked squash or zucchini? How about avocado? Eli even eats broccoli and cauliflower.

shockandawe · #3 June 22nd, 2011, 06:57 AM

I'm knocking on wood over here. The only veggies she's turned down were asparagus and beets. We do the gammut. She eats, spinach, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, carrots, beans, creamed corn (she even got a kernel the other day), sweet potatoes, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, cucumber, celery, onion...I actually find I'm not thinking about it as much anymore, so I'm sure the list goes on. My goal is any veggie at this point, and so long as we are eating it too, it pretty much goes on her plate. In a pinch if we're carb loading and being bad at dinner, I'm giving her peas to balance things out a bit.

Maybe you could try cooking them a different way til you find a way he likes it? Maggie seems more enthusiastic about eating when her food is flavoured and done the same way we would eat it. So if it's sushi night, she gets veggies in her chicken fried rice and I order veggie tempura. If it's mexican night, she gets steamed veggies along with all the other stuff like queso and salsa etc. If I'm making dinner at home, I usually flavour the meat and the rice/potatoes/bread (even if it's just salt and butter or lemon juice and herbs) so when it comes time to put it all on her plate, it all mashes up, and the veggies still get some flavour.

starrsgirl · #4 June 22nd, 2011, 08:43 AM

Too young for corn? I haven't heard that before....we have been eating cooked corn for a while. What do I need to know?

Ally-Mac · #5 June 22nd, 2011, 08:45 AM

Yeah..I was wondering about the corn too. Sydney has been having corn for a bit now.

Jule'sMomInOR · #6 June 22nd, 2011, 09:03 AM

Juliana doesn't eat much for veggies either, so I make her a smoothie with fruit, breast milk, avocado and cucumber. I think avocado is technically a fruit and cucumber isn't especially nutritious, but at least I know she gets that. She does better with veggies if they're covering in a little bit of sauce. They're not really supposed to have tomatoes before 1 but just a little bit of tomato sauce doesn't hurt anything.

#7 June 22nd, 2011, 09:08 AM

Kaileigh is a veggie lover. We also do give corn too. They only recommend waiting to give corn because of allergy issues.

Honestly I buy the big bag of frozen veggies, and sometimes if she is not able to eat what we eat I give her veggies instead. She love carrots, and green beans, and lima beans. She like potato's too.

dinamommy · #8 June 22nd, 2011, 09:36 AM

We do corn too---no problems here. The only problem with it for Eli is that it doesn't really digest and pretty much comes out whole. He likes to eat it though!

shockandawe · #9 June 22nd, 2011, 11:02 AM

I've been less worried about allergies over here. And I'd never heard about no tomatoes til 1 either. My only concern re: corn was the tough outer skin. I've been cooking things to the point where she can mash them as well as she can with her few front teeth and her gums. I'm just mindful of her having no molars to really break everything down the way she would with a full set.

sweetliberty · #10 June 22nd, 2011, 11:11 AM

Aaron is pretty big on veggies too. We do corn as well and just make sure it's cooked well enough; I figured since most formula has corn syrup solids in it and he's had that since he was 4 months old that he's not allergic to it and it's a non-issue.

Anyway, he eats cauliflower, broccoli, peas, carrots, corn, green beans, squash, lima beans, and many, many more (those are just the ones he gets most frequently). It's the start of farmer's market season around here and pretty much anything we can find there we give him in some form or another. Good luck!

starrsgirl · #11 June 22nd, 2011, 01:33 PM

We also buy the huge mixed bags of frozen veggies (peas, carrots, broccoli, corn mostly). Emmett eat those at least once per day. He does eat tomatoes too! (fresh)

My biggest issue is the fresh veggies...like when we have a salad, what do I give Emmett? The carrots and broccoli fresh are just too tough.

ElizabethS · #12 June 22nd, 2011, 02:59 PM

The only reason we haven't done corn is because it still comes out whole, so if he doesn't digest it I figure he doesn't need it!

madelynsmomma · #13 June 22nd, 2011, 04:26 PM

Corn comes out looking whole when you are an adult too, check sometime

The skin on corn is very difficult to digest, but you get the inside part. And any fruits and veggies will come out looking whole if you don't chew them well. With that said, I don't really like being sneaky with veggies(even with my older daughter) because I want it to be normal to eat your veggies. With Olivia, she doesn't eat too much yet, but I do mix things together sometimes. Like a fruit and veggie together. But if I noticed her picking out and only eating the fruit, then I would only offer the veggie in the beginning. That way when shes really hungry she gets the veg first. How do you serve vegetables to your older kids? Do they eat them? Do you buy fresh/frozen? They really do taste so much better and its a great season right now.

shockandawe · #14 June 22nd, 2011, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starrsgirl

My biggest issue is the fresh veggies...like when we have a salad, what do I give Emmett? The carrots and broccoli fresh are just too tough.

I have a similar issue with this, and as a result, I'm not eating as many salads as I would enjoy. I think I posted a couple days ago that I had raw veggies with my lunch one day and Maggie kicked up such a fuss - she HAD to try what I was eating. She didn't do too badly with the teensiest tiniest bites she had. I figure just a few more teeth and we may give it a shot.

Bridgett_H · #15 June 22nd, 2011, 06:09 PM

At this point Jr eats anything and everything. So, usually it's easy. I'm just wondering, could you maybe try giving him the veggies first without the more tasty alternative. I mean cheese enchiladas are Jr's FAVE. If I gave him that with a side of peas I'm sure he'd devour the enchilada. So when that's the case, I just give him veggies first, or just a tiny bit of enchilada with mostly veggies. Good luck.

Arei_720 · #16 June 22nd, 2011, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starrsgirl

We also buy the huge mixed bags of frozen veggies (peas, carrots, broccoli, corn mostly). Emmett eat those at least once per day. He does eat tomatoes too! (fresh)

My biggest issue is the fresh veggies...like when we have a salad, what do I give Emmett? The carrots and broccoli fresh are just too tough.

I rip the puffy green parts off and feed that to her, along with some cucumbers and tomatoes

Re: corn in the diaper- I changed her yesterday to find an entire mushroom slice

jessanddane · #17 June 23rd, 2011, 05:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KaiX2Momma

Kaileigh is a veggie lover. We also do give corn too. They only recommend waiting to give corn because of allergy issues.

Honestly I buy the big bag of frozen veggies, and sometimes if she is not able to eat what we eat I give her veggies instead. She love carrots, and green beans, and lima beans. She like potato's too.

Ditto