Trouble Getting Your Kids to Eat Vegetables? The Secret’s In the Sauce!

I’ll never forget my astonishment when I overheard my friend say to her 5 year old son, “No more vegetables until you’ve eaten your bread”!  What?!?!  There’s a kid out there that’ll eat their veggies BEFORE their bread?  Sure enough, this little guy LOVES veggies and will often forget to eat anything else.

But, that’s not the case in our house.  All my kids have to do is see a vegetable and they start wiggling in their seats.  You would think I was feeding them slimy toadstools or something.

I’ve done everything I could think of to get them to eat their veggies, but nothing seemed to work.  Nothing, that is, until now.  I’ve figured out the secret and the secret is in the sauce.  Spaghetti sauce, that is.

I simply take a can of Hunts Spaghetti Sauce, pour it into the blender and add any veggies I have on hand.  My favorites are zucchini, spinach leaves, and mushrooms.  Next, just turn that blender on and “voila!”, you’ve hidden their veggies in seconds.  Now, use the sauce in their favorite italian dishes:  Pizza, Spaghetti, Stuffed Shells, Chicken Parmesan.  Chances are, they won’t know the difference, but they’ll get a veggie packed meal.  As for my husband and I, who know the difference, we love the new sauce!  It’s thicker and much tastier.

And, here’s one more tip I learned from a friend.  Our family loves to have fruit smoothies. I just put in 3 cups worth of liquid (a mix of milk and water…your pick) and add all the extra fruit I have on hand.  Usually I add some orange juice concentrate or peaches to add sweetness.  My final touch:  A handful of fresh spinach leaves.  The kids drink it up NO PROBLEM!

Now here’s one little warning:  If they can see the green bits, they may not eat it, so add some blackberries or blueberries to darken the color.  In my case, I accidentally made it my first time with just strawberries and orange juice….not a very good camouflage, I’m afraid.  My kids baulked at the little specks, so I told them they were special “Christmas leaves”.  With that, they drank it up and LOVED it!  In fact, they requested “Christmas leaves” from that time on!