Top tips ... fussy eaters - fruit & veg

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You know this idea that your sprogs will like what you ate when you were pregnant - well it's baloney!

I've been a fish eating vegetarian for 30 years but littl'un only eats meat.  Great big fat adult size chunks of it!  Not just the obvious sausages and ham and chicken but steak, rare roast beef the lot.  She's the tiniest two year old you ever saw but on holiday last week she wolfed down two lamb chops and demanded more.

Of course she doesn't only eat meat - fish, pasta, super strong cheese, bread, oatcakes and ice cream are all popular - but she definitely does not ever knowingly eat vegetables or fruit of any sort.

She loves going to the greengrocer and picking fruit and veg and peeling and chopping them but then after a tentative nibble or a tiny lick that might possibly fulfil the vitamin C requirements of a small ant it is spat back out with a loud "blurrrgh".

Having been subject to the "you must eat one brussel sprout" regime by mum as a child - I also hated veg - I vowed I would never inflict it on any child of mine so from pretty early on have been trying to come up with imaginative ways of getting plenty of fruit and veg into littl'un without her realising that I am doing it.

This is a list of 25 of our great faves plus some ideas we've got our eye on ...

Hiding Fruit & Veg in Kids Food

1. Blend spinach or broccoli into really cheesey sauce & serve with pasta, lasagne etc
2. Blend milder green veg e.g. peas, leeks into white sauce & serve with fish or white meat
3. Blend small amounts of cooked spinach into strong garlicky pesto
4. Blend home-made smoothies of yoghurt, banana & orange juice with fruit of choice
5. Bought smoothies aren’t cheap option but can be reliable way to get vit c & fibre in daily
6. Grate apple, mash banana or zest orange into muffin mixture - keeps bits very small
7. Make savoury muffins with e.g. blended red onion, carrot, spinach, red pepper
8. Hide loads of veg in a blended slow cooked tomato sauce for pasta or chilli or as ketchup
9. Make a mild curry sauce with loads of veg blend roughly & stir in some yoghurt
10. Very finely grate or blend vegetables into burger mixture
11. Add blended veg or very finely grated veg e.g. courgette into scones
12. Finely grate apple into everything from cakes to cheese on toast - but keep it fine
13. Carrot cake with very finely grated carrot and e.g. zested orange or mushed pineapple
14. Banana cake a great option if child won’t eat bananas whole
15. Chocolate cake with pureed beetroot - lots of recipes around if you google it
16. Banana custard either proper custard or custard power & milk blended with banana
17. Soups thick well blended veg soups that big chunks of bread can be dipped in
18. Frozen fruit sorbet blend any fruit you like with orange juice & syrup of sugar & water
19. Blend some quickly fried up mild veg e.g. courgette into cream cheese
20. Make crisps/chips from roasted veg e.g. beetroot, parsnip, sweet potato
21. Smuggle some parsnips cut to identical size in with the potato chips
22. Veg pureed with crème fraiche as a dip
23. Blend a few very well cooked carrots into gravy
24. Blend some red peppers in with thick houmous
25. Let them dip carrot or cucumber sticks into dollops of ketchup

You can also download, edit and print this full list of 25 ways for hiding fruit and veg in children's food.

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