My son is a prime example of a kid who can't stand the texture of vegetables. I finally had to resort to hiding the veggies in types of foods and recipes that for the most part don't seem to contain vegetables at all.

- Here are some of the foods you can find right at your local grocery store:

* Campbell's Broccoli soup
* Campbell's Asparagus soup

* Campbell's Corn chowder
* Campbell's Tomato soup
* Ketchup
* Spinach and risotto cheese tortellini
* V8 fusion (a tasty mixture of vegetable and fruit juices in a bottle)

- Sometimes you may just turn to variations of recipes you already know:

* Zucchini bread
* Carrot cake
* All kinds of variations of meatloaf with shredded zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, onions and the like.
* "Green"mashed potatoes (with spinach)
* "Orange" mashed potatoes (either sweet potatoes or regular ones with carrots)

- Then there is another option:

* "Juicing" of vegetables and combining them with fruit juices for better taste.

- Of course you can also make your meals look more interesting:

* "Funny faces" on the plate. Smiling vegetables seem to be so much yummier!

- Or make meals more fun or more beneficial for your kids:

* Tell them that they should eat the "monkey brains", "fried worms" or whatever other gross thing you can come up with - some kids eat their veggies with gusto if they think it grosses other people out - just to prove a point!
* If you can build up a belief in them that the veggies will make them either "big and strong" like cartoon characters (boys), or "beautiful and smart" like a female movie hero (girls), your chances are going up significantly that they might start to realize that veggies are not all that bad.

- Lastly:
* Set an example! My husband keeps telling my daughter that her hair will grow long and beautiful like Mommy's - of course Mommy likes her veggies (!) - and guess what - it works - and her hair has grown a lot since we started that! *wink*

Good luck and happy cooking!

Learn more about this author, Petra Sando.
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