Vegetable recipes and veggies snacks to reform vegetable hating kids

 Got kids who hate veggies? Kids hate (or think they hate) vegetables for many reasons. Color (it's green!), texture (mushy) are taste (yucky) are the biggies. Here are a bunch ideas for enticing kids to not only try but to love vegetables. First, let's look at those complaints more closely.

Color: Tell kids that green is a cool color. Reptiles and dinosaurs are green (ish). Tell your kids that color really is a big deal with vegetables, in a good way. Beta-carotene and vitamin A from pumpkin, squash, beets and carrots helps our eyes and skin. We need the calcium, fiber, vitamin C from dark green vegetables. Anti-oxidants come from veggies and keep us from getting sick. Tell your kids that veggies are Ninja warriors that fight infection and keep us healthy.

Texture: Agreed. Mushy vegetables are not good. It means they've had all the nutrients washed out. Fresh, locally grown, raw, crunchy are best. Frozen is okay. Steamed is the best way to cook if you cook. Canned, except for cooked pumpkin, is not ideal.

Taste: Make a deal with your veggie-hater. Tell him that you are going to have a vegetable tasting party. Make it fun and attractive. Provide lots of choices. Tell him the only way to the cookie jar is through the vegetable platter. Chances are high that he will find at least one or two veggies he likes. Here are some ways to serve vegetables in kid-friendly ways.

Green vegetables: I serve salads with every meal, using the darker lettuces: romaine, green and red leafy, spinach, radicchio, red cabbage, spring mix, spinach. For dressing, serve what kids like, but tell them veggies are living things and don't like to be drowned. Newman's Own is probably the best available in any grocery store. Here's my vinaigrette recipe is: one part olive oil to two parts balsamic vinegar, fresh ground pepper, garlic and rosemary. Here are salad options:

Salad bar night: Set out dishes of grated carrots, sliced hard-boiled eggs, cucumbers, peppers, sweet onions, broccoli and cauliflower bits, grated beets, fresh mushrooms, pine nuts, almonds, real bacon bits, celery, sprouts, grated red cabbage, croutons, cheese, grape tomatoes, garbanzo beans.

Veggie blend topping: In your food processor, grind onions, celery, zucchini, radishes, cauliflower, broccoli, beets, carrots, cucumbers for a salad topping.

Pita salads: Serve salads in a pita pocket or a wrap.

Steak salad: Grill a lean cut of steak. Cut in bite-sized pieces. Layer lettuce, veggie blend, onions, cheese, meat cubes, croutons and grape tomatoes. Add your favorite dressing.

Grilled chicken Caesar: Grill chicken, top romaine lettuce with Parmesan cheese, red onions, juice of squeezed lemon, sliced egg, croutons and anchovy fillets (omit if desired). Dress with lemon anchovy dressing (lemon juice, mayo, sour cream, black pepper and anchovy paste). 

Lettuce roll-ups: The Greeks wrap food in grape leaves and Polish in cabbage leaves, so try making your sandwiches or wraps with the large sturdy leaves of Romaine or leaf lettuce instead of bread.

Asian salad: Top spinach with pecans, sesame seeds, mandarin oranges and ginger. Dress with a splash of sesame or peanut oil and rice vinegar.

Orange vegetables:

Baked Yams or sweet potatoes: Wash, but don't pierce, a yam or sweet potato. Wrap it in foil and bake until soft. Serve with butter, pecans and honey. In many countries, people subsist on yam dishes.</b>

Baked Squash: Fill a shallow baking pan with an inch of water. Cut and seed acorn, sweet dumpling or butternut squash. Arrange them face down in water to steam. Bake until tender. Serve with butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar or honey.</b>

Pumpkin pudding: Follow the recipe on a 29 oz can of pumpkin to make the pie filling (use milk instead of canned milk) , only skip the crust, use brown sugar and extra spices. Pour into a 9x13 pan, sprayed with cooking spray. Bake until solid.

Rainbow Raw veggie platter: broccoli and cauliflower florets, green, red, orange, yellow pepper strips, carrots strips, celery (
peel away stings with a potato peeler), mushrooms, radishes, cherry or grape tomatoes.

  Very few kids can resist the color, zest and flavor of these delicious vegetables!

A-Z culinary herbs and spices guide

Are you trying to eat less sodium, cholesterol, transfat, MSG, and artificial additives without sacrificing taste? Herbs and spices are the answer. Most restaurant food, I'm sorry to say, is sadly lacking in the herb and spice department. Americans dine out more now than ever before, but we aren't very particular about the food we pay so much to eat. The judicious addition of some basic herbs and spices yields flavor and nutrients and eliminates the need for fats, salts and additives.

Allspice- a nice combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and coriander with an "all it's own" flavor. I love it in holiday baking and Indian dishes. 

Asafetida or hing: This is sooper onion-y, almost like the wild chives that grow in your backyard. It packs a wallop so you just need a little. 

Basil- Peppery and fragrant, this herb that is a must for Italian and pasta dishes. Basil is the main ingredient in this pesto, too.

Bay - Pungent and warm; throw a few leaves into any beef dish, stew, chili or soup.

Cardamom - This Queen of Spices, is peppery and fruity. Cardamom is integral to Indian cuisine, stewed fruits and breads. It tastes like bergamot, the main flavor of Earl Grey tea which is 

Celery seed - Crisp, fruity seed that is essential for coleslaw, lettuce salad, chicken and greens.

Celery salt - Spicy and savory, celery salt is my go to salt for pretty much all cooking besides sweet recipes. 

Cinnamon - Warm and sweet, cinnamon has many traditional uses and some exotic ones, too. Cinnamon is used in Mediterranean, Lebanese, Greek and African dishes.

Coriander is the seed to the cilantro leaf and has a citrus-y flavor that gives Indian cooking it's signature taste. 

Cumin - Warm, nutty, slightly smoky, cumin is a key spice in Middle Eastern, North African, Spanish and Indian cooking. 

Curry - Fruity, piquant and warm; used with all meats, rice, noodles, and some fruits. Also use in Asian and African meals.

Dill weed- A must with all fish and tuna recipes. Great with cheese and eggs too.

Fenugreek - Warm, maple sweet spice, Fenugreek is delicious in breads and cakes.

Fennel Seed - What leaps to mind is pizza, but don't forget to add this warm, bite-y, herbal seasoning to in all Italian, sausage and beef stew dishes.

Garlic - Garlic has healing properties, and is a staple for almost any meat, cheese or Italian dish.

Ginger - Hot and fruity, it pairs with curry and in African, Thai and Asian food. Wasabi and ginger are delicious on sushi, too.

Black, Red, White Pepper - Use a pepper grinder with a peppercorn blend (red, pink, white and black corns). A must for salads, soups, eggs, meats.

Herbes de Provence - Blend of savory, basil, thyme and fennel (some varieties add onion, lavender and sage); use this blend in poultry, beef, pork, lamb, rice and just about anywhere.

Lemon Pepper- Lemon is a perfect replacement to salt. Fabu on fish.

Marjoram - Piquant and savory; similar to sage, a multi-use herb for meat, salad, potatoes, rice.

Nutmeg - Sweet and nutty, it is the spice we associate with doughnut and alfredo spice.

Oregano-this savory, kind of woodsy herb gives Italian cuisine it's signature taste. We love oregano on pizza. 

Paprika - "little pepper" in Slavic languages; gentle yet warm and satisfying, a must on eggs, chicken, potatoes, beef and goulash. Use smokey paprika when you want that extra charred flavor. 

Rosemary - fresh with a hint of pine; great in vegetable salads, vinaigrette dressings, pork, chicken and lamb.

Sage - Warm and buttery; the chicken, rice and poultry spice

Turmeric- very peppery to the point of almost bitter, this is a great add-in for color and bite. 

White Pepper - hot and bitter spice that makes Alfredo sauce perfect

Za'ater is not a spice itself but a blend of oregano, cumin and sesame. I love it all all Middle eastern dishes, especially falafel and hummus. 

There are more I might have added, but these are my favorites. Try a variety of spices and develop your own 'gotta-have' list. For more food and recipes, visit my linked blogs.

Quick, easy cheap, nutritious kid-friendly recipes for hot supper meals in minutes

 Hello my friends of Great Food 4U! So if you're parents, you know that 6 pm dilemma when everyone is home from work and school and starved. And well, darn, you forgot to thaw anything and are now at a loss for what to feed everyone. And you don't want to go out to eat or grab fast food because it's expensive. How about some quick, easy, cheap nutritious kid-friendly recipes for meals in minutes? 

Diana's PBJ French Toast. This kid-friendly recipe goes back to the dark ages when I was 6, living over a diner in Alaska. My friend Diana and I would eat pancakes and she's always have them with peanut butter. I morphed them into French toast to add high protein power. Spread bread (any kind, use up leftover bread) with peanut butter and jam. Or almond, cashew or sunflower butter if your family eats peanut-free. Use low sugar jam like Aldi fruit preserves. Dip sandwiches in beaten eggs with a little vanilla and cinnamon added. Fry in ghee, butter or margarine. Add a drizzle of maple syrup or powdered sugar if desired. 

Rainbow Chicken Supper salad. Mix one can chicken, shredded coleslaw (with carrots, green and purple cabbage) mix, dried cranberries, mayo, mustard, celery seed. . If you  have time, chop a yellow bell pepper, red onion and cucumber. If you don't have cranberries, use red grapes or raisins. Add cilantro leaves or fresh chopped dill. Serve with croissants, bagels or English muffins. Or just toast. You can get all the ingredients at Aldi for about $15 and it will make enough to feed six people. You can mix and match with colored fruits and vegetables, whatever you have on hand and need to use up.

Mucho nachos grande. Just in time for Cinco de Mayo, here's a quick, easy cheap recipe to fill up kids and use up leftovers. Melt cheese on tortilla chips and add Herdez salsa cremosa or avocado salsa. Use any cheese you have on hand: shredded, brick or sliced. Or make a quick guacamole from chopped onions, garlic and tomatoes, mashed avocado, lime juice, cumin powder and cilantro. 

Sieta Layer bean dip. This leftover useup recipe is cheap because it uses up all the bits and pieces floating around in the fridge and cupboard. If you're like me, you have, at any given time,, a lot of partially used containers and bags of these on hand. Collect up onions, tomatoes, cilantro, lettuce, shredded cheese, taco meat, crushed tortilla chips, broken taco shells or tostadas, lime juice, salsa verde, taco sauce, salsa, refried beans or just beans, sour cream, ranch dip or salad dressing, in any combination you wish. Chop up the vegetables and layer with chips on the bottom and sauces in between layers. This is great meatless or if you like meat, season some canned chicken with cumin, garlic, onion powder and smokey paprika. Make this with any combination you wish. If you don't have an ingredient on hand, skip, it's fine. 

Ten Minute Taco Salad. So in this version, you mix any combination or all the above ingredients with a base sauce or salsa. 

Speedy Veggie Schpaghet, Schpaget: That's what my MIL (God rest her soul) called spaghetti. Cook any kind of pasta you have on hand. Right now, I'm making mine with Barilla Protein Plus elbow noodles. Make a smaller batch to cook pasta faster. Next, add that half jar of pasta sauce and partially used bag of shredded cheese we ALL have lurking in the fridge. You can jazz it up with fresh sliced mushrooms, pepperoni, chopped onions and or green peppers if you like. Or if you don't have pasta sauce, used diced canned tomatoes. Or even salsa. Add green, black olives, canned mushrooms or capers, if you wish. This is perfect for meatless Lenten fast days. And this leftover useup recipe actually saved money as it used up the spaghetti sauce and cheese that were threatening to grow fur. 

Free up time Frittata. Here's the recipe from another post. Frittatas can be made meatless or with breakfast sausage, bacon or as a leftover use up recipe to use leftover ham, chopped onions and peppers, cheese. Serve with a microwave baked potato or toasted stale bread. Or bake the bread right in for a "toad in the hole" type meal. You can have it ready in 20 minutes. 

Soupcon supper: This is from my Grandma Langerak and is a wash day meal you made when you had no time to cook. Press going-stale pieces of bread into muffin tin cups and toast till they turn to bread cups. Heat one can broth soup (chicken noodle), one can of cream soup and one can vegetables. Any kind. Add canned meat like tuna or chicken if available. This is a war time rationing recipe so you used what was on hand. Pour heated soup into bread bowls. Serve with shredded cheese or grated parmesan cheese if you wish. My favorite version is French onion broth, cream of chicken with canned mushrooms and green beans topped with Greek yogurt. Soupcon is French for "just a little" and it fits. Though it's only a few cheap canned goods bread, it feels like a feast. 

My speedy salsa schpaget was done in 8 minutes. One serving is only about 250 calories, has 15 grams of protein, and cost me about $.40. Not bad. As I had to work late tonight, it was nice to have a hot meatless meal in minutes. 

Yummy kid-friendly recipes and food prep tips to unpick the picky eater

 Mom and dad, have you got picky eaters in your family? Parents are always hearing how important it

is to feed children healthy, but if said children won't cooperate, it can be a real headache. Here are

parenting tips from a teacher, preschool director and mom of four on how to unpick picky eaters plus

healthy kids recipes to fix eating habits and have those fussy eaters eating out your hand!

* Numero uno parenting tips to unpick picky eaters--examine your own eating habits. The majority of

kids who are picky eaters, are raised by adults who are picky eaters. Though he may not show it,

your child trusts your judgement. If you won't try new foods and have a list of dislikes a mile long, you

communicate food phobia to your kids. If you turn your nose up at many foods, your kids figure that

you must have a good reason and they do likewise.

* Take baby steps. To learn to run, you first learn to crawl and then to walk. It's the same with

unlearning picky eating habits. If you've discovered that you are among the many fussy eaters in this

indulged first world, start slowly and add new foods to your diet. Give your children the same growing

space. Check out new healthy kids recipes to find things she'll like. The goal isn't to get picky eaters

to eat everything (this author will never, ever eat liver ever). The goal is to expand both your food

horizons.

* Appeal to the innate good judgement of your picky eaters. Tell your children why it's so important

that to develop healthy eating habits. Show them how unhealthy eating habits can affect her (obesity,

tooth decay, liver damage, diabetes heart disease). You're not trying to scare, just to inform.

* Bargain with fussy eaters. Allow her to say "no, thank you" to one menu item per meal. If she

declines a vegetable, she must eat another one in its place. Healthy meals include at least two

vegetables. Lettuce salads are great healthy kids recipes to make at home. Have picky eaters help

make a salad bar for dinner with lots of veggies added in--scallions, tomatoes, cucumbers, green

peppers, radishes, sprouts, broccoli, eggs, mushrooms, etc. Let her make her own salads, encourage

her to add new vegetables each time. You can also make trades. For every new food she tries, she

gets something she likes.

* Avoid the clean plate club mentality. Here's one of the best parenting tips ever. Don't make your

child eat every bite of a portion size you determined. What seemed like an appropriate portion to you

is likely way to much for children. Children should generally eat all they take. But children should

learn to recognize if food is spoiled or improperly cooked. They will not always be able to judge how

much they can eat.

* Don't overlook illness. Here's another of the essential parenting tips. Just because a child is picky

doesn't mean there may not be a good reason why she is refusing this meal. Check for fever, teeth

coming in, sinus or allergies or flu bug.

* No dessert without dinner. A child should eat a good portion of nutritious food, particularly protein

and vegetables, before eating sweets (even fruit). Sugary foods literally do "kill" the appetite without

adding nutritional value. This isn't bribery as you are encouraging good eating habits by offering

sweets after the healthy food is eating. And psst, here's one of the best kept secret parenting tips.

You can make desserts nutritious. Swap blue agave syrup, honey, fruit and molasses and raw sugar

for refined sugar. Include whole grains, fiber and Greek yogurt for super healthy kids recipes for

dessert.

* Serve water with meals instead of other beverages. Milk is nutritious, but it can also fill kids up

before they have eaten much dinner. Never serve soda, chocolate milk or even fruit juice as a

beverage. Those are desserts.

* Make a collection of your family's favorite healthy kids recipes. Let children help in the kitchen,

preparing meals. A picky eater's biggest fear is that you will slip something she doesn't like in her

food. So she avoid casseroles, soups and foods with many ingredients. When they help cook, fussy

eaters know what's going in their meals.

* It's all in the presentation. Fragrant food, served with an eye to color and arrangement will tempt the

fussiest, pickiest eater. Serve a small portion of turmeric and herb-roasted chicken breast. Add a side

of jasmine rice, Portobello mushrooms, broccoli and carrots. Add fresh tomato and cucumber slices

and a mixed berry parfait. This meal looks beautiful and tastes delicious. Your fussy eaters will be

eating out of your hand

Curried Pumpkin Squash Fish Chowder recipe for Lenten weight loss, gluten-free, keto diet food swaps

 Hello my friends of Great Food 4U! We are this blog are in the midst of Lent. As Catholics we abstain from meat on Fridays and part of our Lenten fast includes abstaining throughout Lent. I'm also on a mission to lose weight through keto diet, calorie restricting and intermittent fasting. Part of how I lost weight 12 years ago was with diet food swaps and eating more gluten-free foods. Here's a weight loss fish recipe that addresses all of those, perfect for Lenten Fish Fridays. It also works great for leftover use-up recipes and meals in minutes! 

Currying Flavor Curried Fish Chowder

So I did that thing I do too often where I thaw fish, planning to make my Cajun fried fish, and then I get busy and tired and don't feel like it. So I came up with this quick recipe that I could throw in the oven. And we ended up loving it. I was able to do a fresh vegetable leftovers use-up too. 

Start with some not too dense fish like tilapia, whiting, blue whiting, catfish, pollock or cod. Rinse and  place pieces in baking pan. Season with celery salt, pepper and dill. 

Prepare sauce. I took a short cut and used Aldi Pumpkin Squash pasta sauce. It did have more cream and sugar than I'd have liked. But it was quick and delicious. For a low carbohydrate, vegan fish sauce, blend canned pumpkin or squash or leftover cooked squash, carrots or pumpkin. You can mash canned carrots if easier.  For a creamier taste, add whole plain Greek yogurt. Add sugar-free salsa or chopped mire poix vegetables: garlic, red or yellow onions, colored peppers and celery. 

Blend curry spices or use prepared curry. My curried fish blend includes: red pepper, white pepper, turmeric, ginger, curry powder, cardamom, coriander, celery salt, celery seed, cloves, cumin, fenugreek (just a little).  Season sauce to taste. Pour sauce over fish and add two or three bay leaves. Bake till bubbly and done. Add fresh chopped tomatoes and cilantro leaves. 

Serve as whole fish with sauce or break into pieces and serve as curried fish chowder. We had fish pieces the first night and ate the leftovers as curried fish chowder. 

Gluten free weight loss food swaps: keto, crustless quiche and frittata recipes for leftover use-ups

Hello my friends! Today we take on gluten-free weight loss with breadless food swaps for popular foods. These are high protein, low carbohydrate keto diet friendly and vegetarian food swaps designed for Lenten fasts and calorie restricting weight loss. Today's are Quintessential Crustless Quiche and Free-up Frittata recipes. 

So first let me say, frittatas have revolutionized my omelets. I call them Free-Up Frittatas because they free up time, labor and ingredients and save money. One pan does it all. And these gluten-free goodies are crammed with low to no carbohydrate vegetarian protein. I list the crustless quiche and frittata recipes separately but basically they're the same thing. My frittata is just quiche without the crust, give or take. 

First, and this is an absolute must, no exceptions, ya gotta use a cast iron skillet. I was never a fan, being the one who had to wash my dad's anvil-heavy skillet. But once dear daughter Molly Cate got me one of my own, well, now it's all I use for most pan fried cooking, especially frittatas. 

You can add pretty much any ingredients you want as long as you have eggs. I'm sure there's a vegan food swap for eggs in quiche but I've not explored that. So my preference is to do a weekly fridge leftovers clear out, dice 'em up and fritatta-ize them. You know, that thing of chopped onions, the half used carton of mushrooms, the six open bags of shredded cheese. (yes, six, why would we bother to see if one is already open before tearing into another?) Don't forget the sprouting garlic bulb or clove, never can remember which is the whole and which is the part. And the three cut into colored peppers. Use up leftover  milk about to expire. And that half package of bacon or bacon bits or cooked sausage, you get the idea. 

First, dice vegetables and sauté in cooking olive oil, ghee leftover bacon grease (favorite). Arrange in pan so there's an even amount spread around the bottom. Season with cracked pepper and celery salt. Lower heat. Beat about 6-8 eggs with a little milk till smooth. Pour into pan so cooked stuff is covered. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  DO NOT TOUCH IT. Just let it cook till eggs have begun to set. Add top with shredded cheese. I actually add my cheese into egg mixture but you can do it either way. Top with fresh herbs like basil, dill, rosemary or oregano. Bake till cheese is melted, eggs are bubbly and edges are browning. 

Top with fresh chopped tomatoes. Cut into pie slices and enjoy this gluten-free quiche-frittata.  If you're eating vegetarian weight loss food swaps, omit meat and top with a little Parmesan cheese. Load up on the vegetables. This frittata recipe is so versatile! We make it for our meatless Lenten entree at least once a week. You will notice ours is not neatly cut, LOL we keep doing that "oh just a smidge more." 

Cheap diet food swaps: meatless, high protein recipes for weight loss

 Hello my friends! We here at GreatFoods4U are all about healthy eating on shoestring, or as economical as possible. Currently, it's Lent in the Catholic church and we are focusing on budget-friendly meatless, vegetarian high protein food swaps to follow our Lenten fast. And value added, these cheap diet foods are great for weight loss. Eating them was part of how I lost 100 pounds without weight loss drugs or gastric bypass surgery. And one of the complaints I hear, ironically, is how expensive weight loss is. Well, the good news is that weight loss doesn't have to break the bank if you use these cheap diet food swaps. 

Split peas or canned peas. You don't have to buy the costly pea protein powder. Just use these cheap diet food swaps. Just blend a cheap bag of split peas in a food processor and swap these for pea protein powder. Or make meatless, vegetarian split pea soup with carrots, onions, celery, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Or, drain, rinse and eat canned peas. You get up to 15 grams per serving in split pea soup. 

Dried beans. Soybeans or edamame are the highest protein beans with 30 grams per serving. Other beans for high protein diet food swaps are lentils, cannellini, black beans, garbanzo or chickpeas. You can grind these and use for gluten-free breadless flour food swaps. You can mash and fry canned beans as pancakes. Or  make homemade gluten-free falafel with besan (chickpea flour). All of these diet food swaps are super cheap. Eating this way is how I lost 100 pounds. 

Pumpkin seeds or pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds). 1/4 cup serving give 7-9 grams of protein. You can find cheap pepitas for under $2 at Aldi. So that's about $.30 a serving for these cheap meatless, high protein food swaps. You can make these into any of your favorite vegetarian dishes such. 

Nut Roast. (or Nut Loaf). Mill gluten-free dried beans or peas. Grind up leftover nuts, any kind. Then sauté leftover bits of onions, celery, garlic, peppers and mushrooms, seasoned with sage, oregano, thyme, rosemary and bay leaf. Blend in nuts and milled beans. Add eggs if desired, oil loaf pan and bake as you would meatloaf. These vegetarian food swaps substitute for pot roast or meatloaf and can have up to 30 grams of protein for 500 calories. The beauty of this economical diet food swap is that it's also a leftover use-up recipe. 

Parmesan Reggiano cheese. This superfood is lactose free, high protein, filling, curbs cravings and good for weight loss if eaten in moderation. One ounce gives 10 grams of protein. This isn't as cheap a diet food swap but if you buy on sale, a one ounce serving is about $.75. I eat parmesan cheese wedges as a snack and it fills me up. Swapping Parmesan Reggiano cheese for other cheeses is part of how I lost 100 pounds. 

Barilla Protein+ Pasta. So you pay a little more than regular pasta but if you buy on sale, it's under $.30 a serving. You get 10 grams of protein for 190 which is fewer calories and more protein than regular pasta. Plus this cheap meatless diet food swap fills me up and curbs cravings. 

Mushrooms. Believe it or not, these meatless food swaps can have as much protein as meat per calorie. Mushrooms make great vegetarian high protein food swaps in all recipes. I love veggie mushroom burgers with white or baby bella mushrooms, garlic, onions, oatmeal, eggs and Parmesan Reggiano cheese.