Ways to Get Kids to Eat Vegetables

Parents of sports playing kids know how busy their lives can get and are stumped. With late practices, homework, and car rides, sometimes driving through or just throwing together some Chicken Dinos with mac ‘n cheese has to suffice.

I have one of the best suggestions for how to get your kids to eat greens.

Make them smoothies.

I’ve been making smoothies for our family for the last couple of years and it’s amazing how good they taste even when they are filled with vegetables. As long as you have some fruit added or some sweetener like Stevia or some blue agave, your smoothies will taste like delicious desserts. We try to do them after school so they have a great, nutritious snack before practices and games.

Today I made the red smoothie pictured here which had the following items added: banana, blueberries, strawberries, beets, carrots, orange, pineapple, kale, spinach, chard, and ice. It’s absolutely delicious. I didn’t add any sweetener and it tastes as good as the ones from Jamba Juice. Costco is a great place so buy the supplies for these because the fruit is so affordable and now they even have a kale, spinach, and chard mix pre-cut, so you can just grab a handful and throw it in. Beets tend to turn anything you mix together red.  It’s actually a beautiful drink!

Another great combination of fruit and veggies is kale, spinach, chard, pineapple, lime, and ginger. This one is not as sweet so you could add a tiny bit of sweetener. The combination of the ginger and lime is wonderful.

My kids absolutely love these smoothies and they even ask for them. I would highly recommend getting a Vitamix blender. They are a bit expensive but if you are going to be using it everyday like I do, you will want to have one that not only lasts, but chops the vegetables up to such a fine pulp that you don’t notice them. My Vitamix blends our smoothies to the same consistency that they get at Jamba Juice and other smoothie places. For the best price on a Vitamix blender, check out Amazon.com.

We have the Pro Series and I would never go back to a cheaper blender. The Vitamix is a self-cleaning blender, so you just fill it half way up with warm water, ad a drop of dish soap, run it for a minute, and rinse. The ease of cleaning it alone makes it worth the investment.

There are literally hundreds of food combinations to make smoothies, and recipes all over the internet. Our Vitamix came with a book full of healthy fruit and vegetable smoothie recipes. And, the Vitamix even makes ice cream and soup. I’ve had several blenders over the years, but this blender makes the best smoothies for kids because it blends the fibers so finely. I never worry anymore whether my kids are getting healthy foods because they drink them every day.

Serve veggies with ranch dressing

I’ve heard so many kids say, “I like broccoli, but only with ranch.” Eating raw vegetables is important so why not make them so they like them? Put out a tray of vegetable dip with ranch dressing and some cut-up veggies, and you’ll most likely have the kids happily eating it. Some kids will only eat carrots, but hey…it’s better than nothing.  🙂

Here is an easy classic ranch dip recipe that will be a hit.