Creative Ways to Make Veggies Appetizing for 2 Yr Old?

My 10 yr old son will only eat zucchini, broccoli, & cauliflower uncooked. If I cook, steam, broil, bake, saute them - forget it; he wont eat them (and no I am not overcooking them and causing them to get mushy). There is a HUGE HUGE difference in the way these 3 veggies taste cooked compared to uncooked. Other veggies he will eat cooked, but not these 3, so I just put on the table uncooked and my husband, son, and myself just eat them that way. One less thing when cooking dinner that I have to try and manage to get all done at the same time ;)

mostly just keep offering them. yes, it's a phase. a couple weeks of being a goofball won't hurt him. he is old enough for a multivitamin now, as well. my son goes through these phases, he insists he doesn't like something "now". i tell him that's fine. but the rule is the same. if you don't eat it that's okay, but no dessert and no extra helpings of the "yummy" stuff. also no treats later if daddy and i are in the mood. some days he truly doesn't eat it. but 99% of the time he does.

My kids love soup with just broth and noodles. So. I sneak pureed squash into the broth. It makes the soup creamy and delicious!

When mine were little I served mixed veggies. THey had to eat two colors. At about 6 they had to eat three and now they eat all but lima beans. I put veggies in every casserole. I serve salads and make that meal, think taco salad. OK maybe not at two. :o) Keep trying, if you eat well they are sure to follow.
Also my pediatrician way back when said to feed them veggies first.

My kids love their vegetables, and it's because they love good vinegar. LOL. I steam most all our vegetables and then season them with salt, oil and vinegar. They gobble them up. My son, who is now 4, likes a little extra vinegar on his. He tells me they aren't "sour" enough, so I have to add extra. Then he clears the plate. If your kids have a favorite salad dressing, you might try using that. You can even put it on a separate little dish and let them dip.

The puree idea is great. I steam veggies and put them in mac and cheese and pasta w/red sauce. She's 2 now and is just getting the point where she likes raw veggies pretty well. Good luck:)

you should get the book by Jessica Seinfield, don't know the name of it, but it is all about veggies...

green bean recipe.. buy green beans fresh... cut in half.. boil until soft.. not to mushy.. probably about 6 minutes... pour out of pot... in hot pot add 1 butter or margarine and 1/8 cup of seasoned bread crumbs.. mix well... add the beans.. to coat.. kids love them.. it's soooo good. i make frest mac and cheese... boil elbows... put in casserole dish... add 1/4 cup milk, 2 table. butter spread out, and any kind of cheese chopped up... i also take a can of whole tomatoes and chop them up with a knife.. and add some to the mixture.. cook for 15 minutes at 365 or until melted.. kids love it... and they get cheese, milk and some tomatoes.. you can also add chopped broccoli or other things... i also make frozen corn ... kids love corn... or fresh carrots cut up, boil for about 10 min. add butter, brown sugar and a dash of honey.. kids love these too.. you kind of have to cover veggies with things... and as they get older you can cut back on the toppings..

With our son, I would roast green beans, asparagus, etc in the oven with olive oil, salt, and pepper at about 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. He loved it (and he always turns up his nose at veggies!). I've found zucchini bread and muffins to be great hits, as well as carrot applesauce cake. I try to get the kids to help me cook, but that doesn't really get them to eat, no matter what other people tell me.

I've also heard that as long as the kids are eating fruits regularly, they should be okay. There are differing nutrients, but fresh things are fresh things, and some are better than none.

Good luck!

You can use squash and shred it like pasta. you can use cauliflower like mashed potatoes. use lots of veggies in things like spaghetti sauce. You can make vegetable lasagna with I think squash again as the pasta.

(how to make squash noodles)
http://summertomato.com/better-than-pasta-subtitutes-summ...

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/baked-spaghetti-squash-lasa...

One of my kids (they are 2 and 4) favorites is pic de gallo... corn, avacado, black beans, poblano pepper, cilantro, tomato, celery, with some garlic, salt and pepper and lemon juice. so good, we eat it on top of rice, with a little bit of shredded chicken, and some shredded cheese.

They love the way I make veggies. I usually do this with asparagus (cut into about 1 1/2 inch pieces), carrots, squash, fresh green beans... I usually only make one at a time though:

Put a little bit of olive oil in pot, add in about 1/4 (or less) of onion and stir for a minute, add in cut veggies, flavor with a little bit of salt, pepper, garlic powder (or fresh minced garlic), and if you need, just a small dab of smart choice butter. I then give them a few pieces at a time and a little bit of Girards Light Ceaser dressing to dip if they need an extra push.

Roast with carrots, celery and potatoes is a big hit and easy.

You can also make fruit smoothies... add in spinach or carrots to the fruit mix and a little bit of sugar to help with the tartness.

My kids also love corn, I just heat it up, add some salt and pepper and a small amount of butter.

You can add veggies to tuna salad or chicken salad too and put it on a little roll.

Make mac n cheese but instead of noodles use cauliflower. Brown rice with peas and carrots. Chicken alfredo with peas/carrots/broccoli, vegetable & fruit smoothies, Home made pizza with mushrooms and olives. I love chicken alfredo pizza with chicken and broccoli, carrot cake (without the icing) zucchini bread, Spinach and cheese stuffed ravioli's, spinach dip and crackers, home made salsa (puree the tomatos). There are tons of things you can do. Just like your son I'M the picky eater! LOL, through the years I have had to get creative on eating my vegetables, and while I know it's not perfect atleast I am trying! =) Good Luck.

When I make pasta I grate up carrots, add thinly chopped onion, sweet peppers, cucumbers, mushrooms, broccoli basically any kind of vegetable I have at the time and my daughter eats it right up. She also likes when i stir fry vegetables with garlic and light soy sauce and serve them over brown rice. She likes eating corn on the cob, i cut her a small piece and she has fun eating the corn off. I also buy Golden Crown fruit/vegetable blend (juice) to sneak some more in there. Another thing you could do is make a fruit smoothie and add pureed vegetables. Good Luck

My guy is the same way - used to eat everything, now quite picky. Honestly, I think part of it is he's too "busy" to settle down to try it. I have gotten him to eat some veggies by making it a game -- usually calling the food some sort of animal (turtle, octopus, etc.) and that they need to go in the "cave" ... but purely by accident, he's starting unwittingly eating more veggies without realizing it - by putting them in his smoothies. Mind you, this was HIS idea. He is allowed to get the frozen fruit out of the freezer for his smoothies. Well, one day he grabbed the frozen peas too and insisted they go in the smoothie. Okay, then, you won't hear me arguing! Recently I bought a bag of frozen chopped spinach and, yep, he now insists that goes in too. So his smoothie consists of a carton of yogurt, frozen banana, blueberries, strawberries, mango, peas & spinach, a little 100% juice, and sometimes some tofu thrown in for measure. He LOVES it!!!

My daughter was three when this started to be a problem, but I feel your pain. She will eat lima beans and corn and edamame and sometimes broccoli, but it has become a real pain when she starts fighting foods that she has always eaten before.

Canned pumpkin is versatile and can be added to many foods...macaroni and cheese, chili, spaghetti sauce, chicken soup (any soup).

When my daughter was younger, I would take frozen spinach and whir it in the food processor into smaller particles. Work fast so it stays frozen but doesn't become a brick when you put it back in the freezer. You can scoop out some to add to scrambled eggs (green eggs and ham), mac and cheese, or just about anything that your child will eat.

I also take a hard line about it. Eat it or don't it. You have a choice.