Favorite Vegetables And Healthy Recipes For Kids
Favorite Vegetables and children don't ever
seem to match. There are so many parents
today constantly fighting with their children
to eat vegetables or other healthy meals. So
many families are on the constant go, and there
doesn't seem to be time in the day for children
or adults to eat some healthy vegetables or
other foods. A great goal is to try and get
creative and include your children in finding
dishes that would entice them to eat more veggies.
A vegetable garden is a place to start.
Involving children in doing a ground or container
vegetable garden is a great way for them not
only to learn about the process of plant growth,
but also learn the role of
nutrition
in vegetables and other foods.
My children are grown now but I
do remember the hiding of the peas
under the knife, or the coughing into
a napkin at the dinner table when
they didn't think we were looking. Ah,
times haven't changed, have they?
Creating some favorite recipes for children
using vegetables, herbs and other foods,
can be a fun and fulfilling project. The project
over time can become a daily ritual for your
family. There is a growing awareness today of nutritional eating habits in both two parent and single parent families.
There are a couple of ways to think about
how you could take a certain favorite vegetable and
create it into a dish or meal that your or
child or children will enjoy. Many children are
taught the four basic food groups.
So much of what a child decides
to eat, can depend on the color
and texture of food. If you watch
when your child is eating, so many
times they will look at a
vegetable like asparagus, and see a long
green thing that can have a slimy and
gross appearance. Asparagus can grow
in a garden, bought at a farmers market,
or a grocery store. This vegetable is rich
in vitamins and also low calorie.
Now if you are thinking, "how can I
get my child to eat asparagus?"
This may look mighty strange to you.
Many years ago, before I became a landscaper
and designer, I was a lead teacher for an Early
Childhood Learning Center. One of the goals was
to allow children to create through hands on learning.
This is so true today with both adults and children.
Starting out with a garden, maintaining the vegetables,
and allowing children to create their own face or other
objects can entice your children to experiment with
texture and taste.
If you can't have a garden, go ahead
and buy some vegetables and give children the opportunity
to develop their personality in a healthy way. In the above
photo, the asparagus represents hair, two slices of
cucumbers for eyes, a half of a tomato for the nose,
and three carrots for the face. The outlining of the face
is made with four pieces of garlic chives. Notice the eyeballs,
two pieces of chocolate. It is fine to add and a small quantity
of a sweet, such as chocolate into a healthy dish. Teaching
children through behavior modification does have its
benefits. Trying a piece of vegetable before the reward
of the chocolate, can motivate a child to experiment
with healthy foods. You can create snack dishes
or a good portion of a meal using simple vegetables.
Start out with any favorites your children or
you may have.

A simple dish of cut up tomatoes and cucumbers
will work. Add a little ramekin (small dish) of
peanut butter and celery as peanut butter not
only is a favorite to many children as well as
adults, but also a great source of protein. The
half of tomato was broiled and cheese
made up the filling. The tomato will take about
ten minutes to soften in a broiler. Add the
cheese a minute or two before you remove from
the oven. Five little parsley leaves were added
to give the vegetable a little more color. There are many
different herbs and spices to view in the spices and herb
sections. Feel free to search in this section of my website
or if you are looking for something specific for your children,
go ahead and search for it in Google, right off of this site. After your done, come back and enjoy more articles, tips and
different techniques.
One of your goals in planning a garden to create
healthy meals, is to think about different themes
you can use throughout the year. The idea
of creating unique vegetable dishes can be done
in any of the four seasons. Come up with a
weekly or monthly theme in your classroom or home.
Allowing children to experiment with textures and
taste, is a great hands on learning adventure. You may be
surprised after they are allowed to create something,
their curiosity will win over and they will begin
to taste their creation. You can do an inside
Create a small area using your favorite vegetable or herb, and grow them from seeds.
It doesn't matter if you have a small outdoor
space or a little table indoors. Incorporating an
outside or inside garden with healthy eating, is a
great way to teach children the importance of
vegetables in their diet. They just may up with their own
favorite veggies. I also believe it will
help adults become more aware of their own
eating habits. If you haven't had a chance,
browse through the
spices and herb section
and get some other ideas for creating dishes
using other herbs and spices. Many of these
plant specimens can have an added nutritional
value to your veggies.
Below is a wonderful way to share any of
your vegetable recipes with all of us.
Many
parents and educators have great ideas for
instilling the value of nutritional foods.
If you haven't created a favorite recipe, go
ahead and plan it, and come back here and
share it with us.
This article is a little different from other landscape
articles on this website.
One of my goals is to
be able to give you ideas using the outside
environment as well as being creative with
plant specimens. We look forward to hearing
about some great veggie recipes.
Vegetables And Children Sometimes Don't Mix
How many of you know how hard it is to get children to eat vegetables? Many educators and parents are trying to teach the nutritional value in vegetables. You can create a vegetable ground or container garden. You can also develop a plan to allow children to create their own personality with vegetables. We would love to hear about a vegetable recipe you and your students or children have done. Feel free to share a recipe and maybe a photo with others. What a great way to teach others about vegetables and nutrition!