In the Sneaky Mama’s last blog, we talked about a few tricks to get the seriously picky eater to eat more fruits and veggies. If your eater is just moderately picky, he’ll willingly (or with light coaxing) try new foods. If you consistently offer new foods, eventually he will come around and eat something besides dinosaur chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese. However, the seriously picky eater is one who gags, chokes or spews new foods. My daughter is one such seriously picky eater, and if you ask her if she’s ever had a fruit or vegetable she’ll say, “No way!” But little does she know that she has a sneaky mama!
Slushies
I admit that we don’t do these often, but I felt I had to include them because slushies have great kid appeal. Your basic fruit slushy includes a type of fruit (bananas are NOT good for this type of drink), a type of fruit juice, and ice. If we make them, we skip the ice and use frozen fruit instead. Pick and choose from the lists below and blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth:
Apple juice 1 pear, 1 apple, 1 peach
Grape Juice 1 apple, a handful of blueberries
Pineapple Juice 1 pineapple, 1 orange, and coconut milk
Fruit punch raspberries, blueberries and strawberries
Yogurt Based Smoothies
Yogurt Smoothies are one of the few ways that my own, seriously picky eater gets her fruits and veggies. They are the consistency of a thin milk shake and can easily pass off as one. Furthermore, I find that you can sneak more things into a yogurt based smoothie than you can a slushy.
First, start off with any flavor of yogurt. You should watch the sugar content but remember that having a drink with a little sugar is fine if it means that your child is getting fruits and veggies. We buy the large containers of vanilla or strawberry yogurt. You are also likely to be able to use plain yogurt depending on what you select. If you use plain yogurt though, you are probably not going to be able to sneak in any vegetables because the flavor would be too strong.
Add in the blender any type of fruit. Bananas do work well for smoothies and you can usually sneak in a green vegetable or two if it’s mild flavored enough. Try some of the following:
Bananas + Strawberries + Vanilla Yogurt
Pineapple + Mango + Vanilla Yogurt
Mixed Berries + Vanilla Yogurt
Carrots + Pineapple + Vanilla Yogurt
Find something that your child likes and then try adding a stick of celery, or a small leaf of spinach.
Milk Shakes
Yes, you’re allowed to use ice cream to get your kids to eat fruits. Look for slow churned “diet” ice cream because it will have less sugar in it. Vanilla ice cream also tends to have less sugar than any other type of flavor. To make a milk shake, blend together ice cream, fresh fruit and some milk.
Tricks and Add Ins
Just because you’ve made the world’s best smoothie, doesn’t mean that your child will see it that way. He or she may still need some coaxing to try it. Here are some tricks we’ve used with our own seriously picky eater to get her to give a “breakfast shake” a chance:
Ovaltine–add a couple of tablespoons for a “chocolate” flavored drink.
Vanilla–add a little vanilla to a drink to “mask” the flavor of a green vegetable
Food coloring–this is especially helpful if you add a vegetable that changes your drink from an appealing color to something not quite so appealing. Add a few drops of food coloring and pass it off as cool!
Getting your kids to drink fruits and vegetables is one way to get the seriously picky eater to swallow them. It has worked for us reasonably well. Let me know how it works for you and don’t forget to look for more great tricks from the Sneaky Mama!
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