Yum! Veggies! And a few shameless product recommendations
My kids are great eaters. They really are. They are picky like any toddler, but in general they eat a huge variety of foods, including fruits and veggies, and generally eat a pretty decent amount at every meal. They do have some unusual non-kid-food tastes - like granola for breakfast (a favorite), especially with nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts - they aren’t picky); they both love beans, especially black; they like Indian food, especially chana masala with plain yogurt. Colin is my super beany boy.
Well, even though they seem to be great eaters, like any parent I want them to eat more veggies. They love the Just Tomatoes peas, corn and fruits, but sometimes the diet needs to extend beyond freeze-dried peas and corn. I received Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld for the holidays. I’ve heard mixed reviews, mostly from parents who don’t want to “trick” their kids, yadda yadda yadda…but give me a break! It’s not like I’m not going to put another veggie on their plate again! I can use some of these recipes to simply give them ONE MORE serving of veggies per day. Plus, most of the recipes call for orange veggies (like carrot and squash), which isn’t exactly a well-rounded veggie palate.
Anyhow, in my quest for good veggies, I found these totally YUMMY Veggie Patch spinach nuggets in the vegetarian produce section (you know, where they sell the processed veggies). Where the heck have I been? Why hadn’t I seen these before? They are a little expensive, and one box is one lunch for the three of us, but they were GREAT! I made us a honey-Dijon dipping sauce with plain yogurt, which I loved but the kids weren’t crazy about (Colin isn’t a fan of any sauce, oddly enough). Colin ate like three or four, and Delaney picked at a few; I think Zoey ate one or two, herself. They are breaded, too…Delaney liked the idea that they were spinach-cheesy nuggets (I had to push the cheese - she’ll eat anything with cheese). So check them out and let me know what you think.
Now I need to find a recipe to make them at home (and avoid paying $5 a box!).
January 8th, 2008 at 11:59 am
mmmmmm, those are a favorite around our house too! If you are a member of Costco they sell them there cheaper than you can get them at the grocery store. I once tried to make my own but it didn’t work out. Tell Delaney I am with her on the pro-cheese agenda.
Megan
January 11th, 2008 at 11:51 am
I got that cookbook for Christmas too! I saw them on Oprah… persuaded by the marketing! (I also bought a neti pot b/c I saw it on Oprah)
I’ve made a bunch of the recipes and most of them are good but I’ve been adapting them and using ww pastry flour and butter instead of margerine. It’s inspired me to add purees to my regular recipes. It’s a great way to use/cook veggies that are about to go bad. I’ve used arugala in a couple of the recipes that call for spinach b/c we had some that was getting old and I needed to steam/puree it. I have one of those little power chopper things that she talks about and they really do make better purees than the food processor.