• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

VegKitchen logo

  • Vegan Recipes
    • Appetizers
    • Baking and Sweets
    • Breakfast
    • Main Dishes
    • Pasta and Noodles
    • Salads
    • Sandwiches and Wraps
    • Sauces, Dressings, and Condiments
    • Side Dishes
    • Soups, Stews, and Chilis
    • Snacks and Dips
    • Desserts
    • Drinks
    • Canning and Preserving
    • Cheese-y Delights
    • Global Recipes
    • Raw Vegan
    • Slow-Cooker
  • Vegan Living
    • Vegan Substitutions Guide
    • Green Kitchen
    • Healthy Eating Tips
    • Food and Produce Guides
    • Vegan Food Hacks
    • Kid Friendly
    • Vegan Product Reviews
    • More Vegan Living
  • About
  • Shop Cookbooks
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Vegan Recipes
  • Vegan Living
  • Cookbooks
  • About Us
  • Freebie!
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • Vegan Recipes
    • Vegan Living
    • Cookbooks
    • About Us
    • Freebie!
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • ×
    Home » Healthy Kitchen » Healthy Eating Tips

    Sneaking Nutrition into Your Kids’ Meals

    Published: Sep 4, 2009 · Updated: Aug 2, 2021 · This post may contain affiliate links.

    Sometimes, stealth is needed to dish out good nutrition. When kids go vegetarian or vegan, they don’t necessarily acquire an instant love for wholesome foods. Even longtime vegetarian and vegan children can be picky about foods parents hope they’ll take to more naturally.

    Subterfuge sometimes works far better than wheedling or bribery for getting good-for-them foods off the plate and into willing mouths. Here are some tips and tricks that worked not only on them, but their often picky, usually non-veg friends:

    Fruit and Yogurt Ambrosia

    Make it look like fun: Many kids don’t like different foods to touch one another. Let them decide what can touch, and it’s a different story. When my sons were little, I’d give them and their friends individual bowls of vanilla nondairy yogurt, and set out separate bowls of fresh and dried fruits, small cereal shapes, and chocolate chips. The kids had fun creating designs on the yogurt, and often asked for seconds. Likewise, you can have kids create “pictures” on a plate with carrot coins, colorful bell pepper strips, tiny broccoli florets, and halved cherry tomatoes. Make a rule that they need to eat their work of art (a natural ranch-style dip makes it go down easy)!

    Sweet potato soup

    Disguise it: Here’s the ultimate subterfuge — hiding nutritious foods in kid-friendly purees. It’s easy to sneak steamed, pureed high-nutrient veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, winter squash, carrots, and greens) into pasta or pizza sauce. Pureed silken tofu adds soy goodness to soups, sauces, and smoothies. It’s astonishing how many vegetables can disappear into a soothing pureed soup. Sweet potatoes, squash, green veggies, and even the often-dreaded onions and garlic become palatable in a puree.

    Blackberry lettuce smoothie recipe

    Blend it: Finally, don’t stop making smoothies in cooler months. Combine three or so fruits — banana, pear, apple, pineapple, mango, and orange — in a base of nondairy yogurt or silken tofu, and thin with rice milk and/or juice. Who knows — you may be able to add in tender greens like spinach to the mix in due time. Serve as part of a vitamin-packed breakfast or snack. If pureeing fruits and vegetables is your preferred method of sneakiness, an immersion blender will be your best friend-they’re inexpensive, and easy to use and clean.

    • Explore lots more healthy eating tips on VegKitchen’s Veg Kids and Teens page as well as in the Nutrition area.

    More Healthy Eating Tips

    • vegan pumpkin recipes
      Tasty Vegan Pumpkin Recipes
    • Apples and apple cider vinegar
      6 Health Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar
    • 6 Basic Guidelines for the Nutritarian Diet
    • bowl with maca powder on spoon
      7 Major Health Benefits of Maca Root

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Barbara Pollak says

      January 13, 2012 at 12:17 pm

      REminds me of when #1 son, now a gourmet cook and rabbi, was a picky eater. I got him the Super-Healthy, Super Hero cookbook and he would eat anything from there. It included things like Clark Kent burgers, easily updated and veganized: burger with slice of cheese (substitute veggie burger and vegan cheddar or american cheese), cheese cut into the emblem shape and a big S (for superman) in ketchup on the cheese. On the top of the bun, rounds of cucumber or zucchini to look like glasses...

    2. Nava says

      January 13, 2012 at 3:01 pm

      Sometimes it takes great effort, like that you made, to make meals fun and palatable for kids. It's always worth it!

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    nicole malik from vegkithen.com

    Hi, I'm Nicole! I'm the creator behind VegKitchen, and the author of the popular cookbook, Weeknight One Pot Vegan Cooking. Learn more about me here.

    More about me →

    vegan substitution chart

    Featured Recipes

    • recipes for a vegan Christmas dinner menu
      Best Vegan Christmas Recipes
    • vegan christmas cookies
      Vegan Christmas Cookies
    • vegan irish stew
      Old-Fashioned Vegan Stew
    • vegan breakfast casseroles
      10 Make-Ahead Vegan Breakfast Casseroles
    • Sticky Sesame Cauliflower
    • vegan jalapeno poppers
      Vegan Jalapeno Poppers

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    • Shop Cookbooks
    • Free Vegan Cheat Sheet
    • About Us
    • Work with Me
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use

    Still hungry? Check out our delicious family of blogs.


    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2021 Hook & Porter Media