Mealtimes can be especially challenging for parents of toddlers. Fussy eaters often refuse to eat anything with nutritional value, while parents resort to begging, pleading or bribing their tots at every bite. Turn mealtime around with a little bit of trickery. Hide nutritious ingredients in your child’s favorite fare. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, while what you do know will help make him healthier.
Purees
Sneaky cooking begins at the food processor. Fruits and veggies processed into purees are easily disguised when stirred into sauces, casseroles and baking mixes. Purees also serve as natural food dyes that encourage kids to eat a selection of colorful “treats.” Puree blueberries to create a purple-tinted mixture. Turn foods orange with carrot, sweet potato and pumpkin purees. Puree raspberries and strawberries for a punch of pink, or green beans and zucchini for a tint of green. Mix colored purees with basic white sauce to pour over pasta dishes or into mashed potatoes. Add to the batters for pancakes, cookies or muffins to add a healthy dose of color to sweet treats. Prepare fruit and vegetable purees in advance, divide into portions and freeze to have a selection on hand for quick and easy access when preparing meals.
Breakfast
Start the day with blueberry-enriched pancakes made from whole-wheat batter. Make them silver-dollar sized to turn this dish into a toddler-friendly finger food. Pureed cauliflower hides well in a batch of scrambled eggs. Take advantage of the sweet flavor and colorful appeal of a fruit puree to make purple or pink oatmeal.
Lunch
Chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese seem to rank high on the list of kids’ favorite meals. Nutritionally, however, they rank rather low with parents. Satisfy everyone with homemade versions that transform these dishes into healthier menu items. Replace white pasta with a whole-grain variety, and stir sweet potato or carrot puree into the cheese sauce.
Take a tip from Missy Chase Lapine, author of the “Sneaky Chef” series of books, and bake a healthier version of chicken nuggets right in your own oven. Cube fresh, boneless chicken and dredge it in whole-wheat flour. Whisk vegetable puree in with the egg mixture for the coating, and toss with a combination of wheat germ and whole-grain cereal batter. Bake rather than fry the nuggets, and serve them with dipping sauce that contains a sneaky puree.
Dinner
Mix vegetable puree and brown rice for fiber into your ground beef, chicken or turkey meatball mixture. Roll into toddler-sized, miniature meatballs. When cooked, the rice grains will poke out of the meatballs, adding a “porcupine” effect and another element of visual appeal. Serve with whole-wheat spaghetti or spaghetti squash, topped with a vegetable-enriched tomato sauce. Use the same technique to prepare burgers and meatloaf.
