Sneaking Healthy Foods to Picky Eaters
There are those moms who are blessed with perfect children who never argue and always eat their fruits and vegetables. I am unfortunately NOT one of those moms and if you are reading this, you probably have picky eaters too. My daughter can be the pickiest eater and getting her to eat healthy food can be a challenge at times to say the least. One day broccoli is delicious and the next day it is the worst thing she has ever encountered in her short little life!
So what is a mom to do? I can’t just let her eat cereal all day every day for every meal. After many arguments over food and trying to convince her to eat her dinner, I devised a way to get those healthy foods into her little belly without the argument! I can sneak them into unassuming foods! It was a brilliant plan, I thought! I was a tinge doubtful that it would work, because little children are like bloodhounds who can smell the slightest hint of greens anywhere near their dinner plates, but our first try was a success! I continued trying different sneaky recipes and strategies and I have been pleasantly pleased with the outcome, so I decided to share with my fellow coffee moms the secret to my success with my top sneaky foods for picky eaters!
Avocado Chocolate Pudding
Every kid I know loves chocolate, but I don’t know too many who are willing to chow down on an avocado. I found this recipe from fellow blogger, Short Sweet Mom, and I just had to try it! It’s an Avocado Chocolate Pudding! I know, it sounds like it would be terrible, but really it tastes JUST like a regular chocolate pudding! My daughter and husband both loved it and had no idea that it was actually good for them.
Kale Banana Muffins
Another awesome recipe I found from a fellow blogger,Vegging at the Shore, was Kale Banana Muffins. Again, they sound terrible and they do turn out a little green, but they taste amazing! With my daughter, if it looks like a muffin she will happily eat it. She thinks it is a treat. Lite does she know she is getting a sneaky bit of healthy greens with her sweet treat!
Carrot Mac and Cheese
Mac and Cheese is one of my daughter’s favorite foods. It seems that most picky eaters will devour a box of mac and cheese, no problem. The problem is that it isn’t the healthiest option for out picky eaters. Something that I have started doing is taking cooked carrots and puréeing them down. When the Mac and Cheese is ready I add my purée in with the cheese, milk, and butter. It makes it a little thicker, but my daughter eats it up. You can also do with with squash if you prefer, a recommendation from lovely fellow blogger, Lady Law Student.
Spinach Pasta Sauce
Similar to the Mac and Cheese concept, I will purée some cooked spinach and add it into spaghetti sauce. It does not noticeably change the taste but it makes it a lot more healthy. I always enjoy sneaking some greens to the picky eaters in my life. Recently, I made a Spinach Chicken Parmesan that was a hit with my daughter.
Popsicles
I had gotten a popsicle tray from one of my FabFitFun boxes. (sign up with my link and get $10 off of your first box). I love this thing. I use it all of the time to make healthy treats for my daughter! Recently she has decided that she hates yogurt. So I made popsicles out of yogurt and fruit and she thought it was the greatest thing in the world. The possibilities are endless really. You can use fresh fruit, yogurt, or juice and make endless varieties of healthy popsicles! I know there are tons of ideas on Pinterest.
Smoothies
I love to make myself a green smoothie in the morning for breakfast. I have tried to get my picky eater to try it but she refuses to drink “the green stuff”. Luckily a sweet fellow blogger sent me her recipe for a Not Green Green Smoothie. We tried it and it was a hit! It has all of the good healthy veggies and fruit in it, but it does not look green. Even the pickiest of eaters will love this one.
More Mac and Cheese
When I was looking for some recipes for my picky eater, I came across another mac and cheese idea that I just had to try! Broccoli Mac and Cheese Bites ended up being a big hit in my house. Willow helped me make them and that alone makes her more likely to eat. I ended up dicing up the broccoli pretty small so it wouldn’t be as noticeable. Willow ate it up! This is for sure a good one for all the picky eaters out there!
Chia Seeds
My daughter loves peanut butter and jelly. She would eat a PBJ for every meal if I let her. One way that I found to sneak some goodness into her diet is to add chia seeds to her PBJ. They really have no taste to them, and when added to the sandwich they look like a part of the jelly. These little seeds are packed with Omega-3, Fiber, and Protein. I typically just put the seeds right onto her sandwich, but you can also soak the seeds to use in recipes or grind them up to make them into a less noticeable powder.
Pancakes
I do not know a kid who doesn’t like pancakes. Pancakes are great for picky eaters because it is easy to disguise healthy ingredients in them. You can make then with greek yogurt, protein powder, or mashed bananas. I typically make a super large batch of pancakes and freeze them. That way all I have to do is pop one in the toaster on busy mornings. One of my favorite healthy pancake recipes is made with bananas and can be found here.
Cauliflower Substitutions
Did you know that you can use cauliflower to make alfredo sauce and as a potato substitute? I had no clue about this until recently! There are so many recipes on Pinterest for cauliflower substitutions that it is unreal! The alfredo sauce is amazing and you can’t even tell the difference! My little picky eater loves it! The mashed cauliflower is delicious too instead of mashed potatoes. Trust me, just search pinterest for cauliflower substitute recipes and you will be shocked!
There are so many ideas out there to get healthy foods to picky eaters that it is unreal! Pinterest is a wealth of information and one of my favorite places to find recipes. If you want to find all of the recipes I mentioned and more, then check out my Picky Eaters Pinterest Board. I would love to hear what your tips and tricks are for getting your picky eaters to ingest good for them foods!
Ohh great ideas! I love carrot mac and cheese 🙂 Definitely need to check out some cauliflower substitutions too, who knew!?
I will use so many of these recipes! Thank you!!
I totally need these recipes! These are great! Thanks
I love that smoothie recipe! I am pinning that and making that. my problem is my kids wont even eat the basic foods, the mac and cheese or PB&J to even hide stuff in. We have a situation here, i know
These are great ideas! My daughter is beginning to get picky, so I’m going to try some of these.
Such fabulous ideas! I love being sneaky and I find with a little use of the food processor, you can get so much goodness into their food!
I will have to try your sauces mix ins, those sound like a great idea, even for adults like me who won’t eat spinach by itself haha! And I buy ready to mix protein pancakes and make them with almond milk too!! My daughter loves those and doesn’t taste any difference!
These are GREAT ideas!!! Pinning this so I remember when I need this list!
Smoothies are our #1 way to sneak in healthy foods! I love making individual freezer bags so they are ready to pop in the blender on buys mornings!
My kid is so picky right now! I’m going to have try a few of these, I know he’d eat any kind of mac and cheese 😛
Wow! These are so great! My middle son is so picky, I will be trying these!
These are great ideas. My son is super picky as well. If he sees anything green where it shouldn’t be he won’t eat it. I should tryouts some of the cauliflower tricks and adding carrots to his Mac & cheese. Hopefully he won’t notice 😉
These are great ideas! I also would purée zucchini and mix it with applesauce and my son would eat it. Gotta try the carrots with mac n cheese, tho.
Thanks so much for these! I love that you actually included some actual examples that can be used! My son is extra picky so this will definitely come in handy.
These are some great ideas! I’d have to try to Avocado pudding to believe you! LOL! My son has always had texture issues and unfortunately cooked vegetables are often at the top of the list of things he has an issue with. I really liked the suggestion about the chia seeds.
I’ve got a picky one and I love these ideas of “sneaking” healthy foods in there!
I have been really blessed my son loves both fruits and vegetables. I have yet to really find one he does not like. I just wish we could incorporate meat because that is the fight I have
Love the carrot in the mac and cheese idea. My daughter loves to peel the carrots but eating them is another story. Too bad I din’t read this like an hour ago before I whipped up some homemade mac and cheese for lunch. Next time for sure!
I love your ideas!!! My 3 yo just radomly decided she wanted to be a picky eater — trying out your mac & cheese and pasta sauce this week. Thanks for sharing!
I love these ideas! I am always looking for ways to sneak in healthy foods and these sound great! My daughter is really into smoothies right now, so I will have to try that one first!
Pinning this for later! My daughter is such a picky eater (like, I wish she would eat chicken nuggets, since she would be eating meat then)… 😉
I’ve always wanted to try this with my kids, but wasn’t sure if any of us would like it. I do make my own popsicles though, and they do like those.
Yum!! I love finding ways to incorporate more vegetables in my diet. Pumpkin mac and cheese is a favourite of mine, and I just came across white bean alfredo which was sooo yummy. Also I was very surprised with how amazing avocado pudding was!
Going to totally try your carrot mac and cheese next time!
White bean alfredo sounds delicious too!
This is great! I have a 6 year old that is super picky and will not eat any kind of vegetable except for snap peas. We have tried everything, but this post gave me some awesome ideas to try out! I love banana Pancakes!
I live in a house of boys that are full of picky eaters. I would love if they ate more vegetables and healthy ingredients. Sneaking it in is the only way I can go! Great tips.
This is brilliant – so clever! Totally using this tonight when I’m cooking dinner for my boyfriend haha! Bless x
So glad you posted this. I have some of the pickiest eaters ever!! Great options for getting healthy food into some of their favourite foods!
These are all awesome suggestions! I know I will be needing some of these in the near future for sure!
Thank you
These are some really great suggestions! Whilst I’m yet to have kids, I can be a fussy eater myself, so would love to try some of these to be a bit healthier myself. I love Pinterest for recipe ideas.
Chia seeds in the jelly and spinach in the pasta sauce would totally fool my 2-year-old son! Great ideas!
Awesome post! I love and swear by Chia seeds and can attest that it also lower down blood pressure. 🙂 Will share this to friends.
they really are amazing! I put them in so much for me and my whole family…and most of the time the rest of the family has NO IDEA
I completely agree with all of your suggestions. I make smoothies for my friends little girl, who is a very picky eater, and she loves them! Sometimes I even add chia seeds, which she doesn’t seem to mind. I’ve never tried carrot mac and cheese, but now I really want to give it a go. Kale banana muffins sound so good!
I’m a picky eater myself and I have to admit, I also love mac and cheese haha I know my mom was going nuts because I refused to eat.
However now that I’m oler the problem is fixed simply because I’m always the one cooking so I make food that I know I’ll eat while experimenting
I am a picky eater so I tend to sneak some in for me as well! Even though I know it is in there I still can’t taste it!
Those are all great and yummy ideas!I love smoothies so much!
My son is such a picky eater he will not eat just about everything on your list. Occasionally he will drink a smoothie but not often. For him it is all about textures.
All brilliant ideas! I’m sure a lot of parents will find this very helpful. Way to be creative!
I don’t have kids, but I’m always looking for creative ways to add veggies to my diet! So many great ideas!
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A few years ago I went low carb for several months, and that was when I fell in love with the versatility of cauliflower. Now I eat it often and like to use it in several dishes. I also love smoothies, and thankfully so do my girls. I haven’t tried adding veggies to our mac and cheese though – but I HAVE added vegetable purees to spaghetti sauce with success.
Those are some really stealth ways to get healthy items in the meal of a picky eater! I am not picky but some things I don’t like and so you would catch me with these tricks! 🙂
We really have to be more creative when it comes to making healthier meals for our kids! These are all great suggestions. I love that there are different variations for mac and cheese.
These are such great ideas! I don’t have to sneak in veggies to my kids since they love it but these surely does help a lot of moms out there who have picky eaters!
Belle | One Awesome Momma
I am all about sneaking healthy foods into my kids diet. Except you have to be careful not to be caught. tee hee!
Right! I’ve been caught and had to talk my way out of it with a 3 year old lol
I did this all the time with my little kids. Now they have developed a healthy taste for healthy food.
Oh i love these recipes! My kids will surely enjoy some of this
great list of foods! i like it! this will surely a help to make my child eat table food!
My daughter is really picky with her food! I can’t wait to try some of these out :))
thats a great advice! my son is very picky! ill try this list!
The carrot mac and cheese sounds super good. Thanks for sharing.
So many good ideas! I will have to try some
The carrots in the mac and cheese sounds like something I need to try. I also need to do more smoothies.
These are all awesome ideas! I am so lucky that out of 7 kids I only have one who is actually picky and of course he’s 13 so its difficult I am going to try some of these on him!
All of a sudden my baby who ate anything and everything has decided that she likes NOTHING! I love all of these ideas and will def. be saving for later!
I love making recipes with hidden vegetables in them and I just found a few new ones to try 🙂 Can’t wait to make the Mac and cheese one!
These are such great ideas. I’m glad my daughter is not a picky eater and would eat anything.
These are some great tips!!! My daughter is ridiculously picking these days so I’m always sneaking healthy things into her food!!
Great ideas for the little ones. I’m glad you foubd something that works for you.
That Spinach Pasta Sauce looks amazing! I am going to have to give that a try and see if my kids like it.
No matter what I do, I can always tastes the avocado in chocolate pudding but its so easy to hide greens in smoothies! thats my favorite way to go!
Popsicles and Smoothies were already in my mind. I actually like the pastas and pancake idea too add some extra stuff too good ideas.
My kids love smoothies and green juice – it is the easiest way I have found to get a wide variety of veggies into them. My oldest loves most vegetables though, and I am hoping the other two get there as well!
Thankfully, I am not a picky eater. But when dealing with kids, it can be tough! Thanks for these creative recipes!
I will definitely be trying some of these! A couple of my kids periodically go through a period when I can’t get them to eat anything but string cheese and a handful of crackers. At least the cheese is okay, but I get frustrated that they’re not getting any fruits and veggies in for a couple of weeks. I’m sure I can talk them into the pudding!