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Lunch Recipes
Sneaking in some vegetables at lunch is a bargain as far as the kids go. Try these ideas, I'm convinced they'll love it.
Recipe ideas for vegetables at lunch.
Convincing your kids to eat vegetables for lunch might sound like attempting the impossible to you. It is difficult to get them to eat at least some of the veggies you serve them, if you are not always there to nudge them on. It is here that you need some ideas to make sure they get all the veggies they need. Fortunately, help is at hand.
Here are a few fun recipe ideas to sneak veggies into your child’s lunch. The best part is that they won’t even mind, if they notice at all.
1. Hide the veggies –
If you can’t get your kids to voluntarily eat their veggies, try the sneak attack and hide them. Here are some ideas to get you started:
For A Cold Lunch:
Grate some carrot or zucchini into a muffin or quick bread batter.
You can even make pancakes with grated zucchini in the batter. It is very tasty and the kids will love it.
Stick some lettuce and a few slices of tomato in their sandwiches.
Fill a pita pocket with a few veggies and sandwich meat. Top with hummus or cheese.
Drop some canned tomatoes, chunks of peeled and seeded cucumber, green pepper, a little onion, garlic and olive oil in a blender and make cold soup. As long as you keep the flavor somewhat mild your kids may enjoy this chilled soup.
For A Hot Lunch:
If you are serving your kids a hot lunch, there are even more great hiding places (these work at dinner time too, by the way):
Add some small pieces of vegetables to pasta sauces.
Pack your meat loaf with plenty of grated vegetables. Carrots, zucchini, green peppers and celery all work well with any type of ground beef meal. Just cut them into very small pieces or grate them in order to keep your secret safe.
To make meat balls, cook some vegetables in a small amount of water. Mash the vegetables up in the water, or even better completely blend them with a food processor, and ad the mixture to your meat ball mix. i can assure you, your kids will be totally unaware of the fact that they are getting all the veggies they need whilst eating there meat balls and spaghetti!
2. Wrap the veggies –
Veggie wraps are a great way to feed your child a healthy lunch or snack. Use a tortilla, pita or one of the larger sandwich wraps and pile on lettuce and any veggies your child will eat. You can also add a little tuna, chicken, sandwich meat or boiled egg to add some extra protein to your child’s lunch. Top with cheese and wrap it all up.
Another fun idea is to wrap the veggies in cold meat instead of bread, and to serve it with a bread roll. To make it tastier you can spread some low fat mayonnaise or any other kind of sauce on the cold meat before wrapping the vegetables in it.
3. Dip the veggies –
What child doesn’t love to dip? Cut up a plate of raw veggies including carrots, yellow peppers, celery, small tomatoes and cucumbers. Add a small bowl of your child’s favorite dip like ranch dressing, natural yogurt or light sour cream with a ranch seasoning pack mixed in, and let them dip to their heart’s content. Introduce new vegetables and dips, like avocado dip, from time to time.
4. Veggie juice –
If you can’t get your kids to eat their veggies, make them drink a serving of the good stuff. Instead of the usual soda, milk or juice box, pack some vegetable juice in your child’s lunch box. V8 has quite a few good vegetable juices, including fruit and vegetable mixes kids are sure to love. If you have a juicer, try making your own too!
This is just an idea for veggie “recipes” you can use for lunch. Once your kids are used to the veggies and start enjoying them, you can add veggies to their packed lunches in the form of chopped up vegetables without all the trimmings. Another good idea is to pack them lots of the little miniature veggies available today. This has the advantage that more nutrients will stay intact as the vegetables, not having been chopped up, had not been exposed to the air that otherwise causes the lost of some nutrients due to oxidization.
Well, with these ideas your kids will surely be cobbling up their veggies in no time. This will be the time to move on to bolder vegetable recipes! Remember, your perseverance will bear fruit in the long run.
Once your whole family loves their vegetables, you can go on a recipe hunt and serve interesting meals to your hearts content.
Enjoy this simple veggie recipe ideas!
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