vegan recipes for kids: Now that they make all the meals at home, getting your children to eat vegetables and not arguing about it is not an easy task. We tell you a few strategies so that they see the vegetable with better eyes and we suggest you rich and economic preparations.
The health authorities advise that both children and adults take 2 servings of vegetables a day and, preferably, that one of them be raw because cooking loses nutrients.
- ice cream with coconut
- Explain to them how healthy they are
- Give them funny names
- Ask them to help you cook
- Draw with vegetables
- Eggplant mini-pizzas
- Succulent broccoli omelette
- Colored vegetable flan
- Homemade dumplings are ratatouille and tuna
- Vegetable creams never fail
- Onion squid
- Sauces … of vegetables
- San Jacobos of eggplant or zucchini stuffed with ham and cheese
- HOW MUCH VEGETABLES SHOULD KIDS EAT
But if it is already difficult for children – not all but the vast majority do eat fruit, it is even more difficult for them to consume vegetables. And, surely, vegetables occupy the first place in the ranking of foods that children tend to like the least .
IT MAY INTEREST YOU
ice cream with coconut
- In fact, the so-called food neophobia (refusal to taste food) is common among children from 3 to 6 years old and usually occurs with vegetables.
From the hand of the dietitian-nutritionist Sonia Ruiz , we give you tips for your children to better tolerate vegetables and ideas for fun , tasty and inexpensive preparations .
HOW TO GET CHILDREN TO EAT VEGETABLES
These strategies will help your child not reject vegetables:
Explain to them how healthy they are
- Children are all ears. If you explain to them that the vitamins and minerals that vegetables provide are essential for their heart, eyes or brain to work well ; so that your bones grow strong and do not break; or so that those little soldiers who are our defensive cells protect us from diseases like COVID-19 will surely make an effort to eat them.
Give them funny names
- It is pure marketing but in children under 6 it seems to work. A study from Cornell University (USA) showed that renaming vegetables and calling them, for example, “X-ray vision” instead of carrots helps them consume them more enthusiastically.
- And it has its logic because it is a way of attracting their attention, and children react to novelty .
Ask them to help you cook
- Children love to experiment , so encourage them to help you in the kitchen.
- For example, you can chop the salad ingredients and then have him put them in the serving platter.
IT MAY INTEREST YOU: Palak panner Indian style spinach
Draw with vegetables
- The food enters the food by sight and to them even more . Therefore, a very fun strategy is to use different vegetables in pieces or slices and decorate the plate to reproduce an animal, tree, stroller … It’s a matter of letting your imagination run wild.
RECIPES WITH VEGETABLES THAT YOUR CHILDREN WILL LIKE
These ideas are perfect as a first course at noon but also as a dinner to replace the typical pizza or nuggets , less healthy options.
Eggplant mini-pizzas
- The base of these minipizzas are aubergine slices .
- Top with a little fried tomato, cheese and even a few bacon shavings or, why not, a few thin slices of sausage. Bake a few minutes and serve.
Succulent broccoli omelette
- The egg is the perfect camouflage for the vegetable. And the mixtures are as many as types of vegetables: broccoli omelette, spinach, zucchini or peppers; scrambled eggs with chard or green beans with mushrooms …
- Even the most tasteless vegetable gains flavor (or is completely disguised) with the egg.
- In addition, it is a very good way to take advantage of vegetable remains that you have in the fridge so that they do not end up in the trash.
Colored vegetable flan
You only need potato, carrot, zucchini, egg, plain yogurt and a pinch of salt. You can also add basil to flavor the dish if you have at home.
- Wash, peel, and slice the carrot, zucchini, and potato . Steam them for about 10 minutes, then add beaten egg, yogurt, and chopped basil. Season with salt and pepper and beat everything together.
- Pour the mixture into individual flannels and bake at 180º until set. Let cool and remove from the mold. It is ideal as a first course with a little rice or as an accompaniment to meat.
Homemade dumplings are ratatouille and tuna
Ratatouille is an easy, healthy and tasty resource to enhance both meat and fish dishes.
- But if your children do not like to find pieces of pepper or onion on the plate, you can mix it with tuna, crush it a little in the mixer (not too much so that it is not too fine) and use it as a filling for homemade dumplings.
Vegetable creams never fail
Probably the one that children like the most is the zucchini with potato or the classic vichyssoise (leek with potato). To get out of this routine a bit:
IT MAY INTEREST YOU: The best Recipe for sticky chicken
- We suggest you prepare the cream with these three basic ingredients (potatoes, leeks and zucchini) that are a guarantee of success and add any other vegetables that you have in the fridge to add vitamins to the cream: some broccoli sprigs, a handful of green beans … .
- Also add a couple of cheese . The result is delicious and can be taken both hot and cold.
Onion squid
Cut a large onion into thin rings .
- Coat the rings in flour (to make it easier for you, you can put the flour in a plastic bag, insert the onion rings and, with the bag tightly closed, shake well).
- Fry the rings in very hot oil . They will remind you of squid a la romana and you will surely love them.
- You can also cut other very fine vegetables (zucchini, carrot …) and prepare them in the same way.
Sauces … of vegetables
Preparing meat, pasta, or any other vegetable-based sauces and mashing the vegetables afterward is one way to easily eat them .
- Otherwise, those delicious chicken drumsticks will surely be eaten but they will set aside the pepper or carrot and leave it on the plate.
San Jacobos of eggplant or zucchini stuffed with ham and cheese
Cut two thin slices of eggplant or zucchini .
- Arrange a slice of ham and a slice of cheese on top of the vegetable sheet and cover with the other sheet. Click with a toothpick so that it does not open.
- Dip in beaten egg and then coat with breadcrumbs . Fry in olive oil.
HOW MUCH VEGETABLES SHOULD KIDS EAT
As we said at the beginning, children should take two servings of vegetables a day.
- To give you an easy idea, a serving would be the equivalent of what fits in both hands together in a bowl, whether raw or cooked.