Monday, December 11

Dippy Dinner Idea: How to Get Kids to Eat Their Veggies and Try New Foods

My 5 year old Little Gal is currently in a vegetable funk. For some reason, she is going through a phase where the only veggies she likes are broccoli (sometimes) and carrots. Gah! She used to be my veggie-loving girl who liked to eat salads even at age 3!

Well, there's one thing I've learned about getting your kids to eat their veggies in my 7 years as a mama, and that's just to consider any changes like this a PHASE. Yep, with a little time and effort, I know Little Gal will go back to her veggie loving self. It just takes patience and work!

I've read SO many articles and opinions about how to get kids to try new foods and/or eat their veggies. I truly believe that you have keep trying many different strategies - and try them many times. What works one time may not work the next, so it depends on each try, each kid and each family.

So, to get Little Gal out of her non veggie eating funk, I wanted to share a recent fun family dinner we created with tons of healthy Hilary's products. We're so grateful for this brand as it makes allergy-friendly products free of the top 8 allergens. Plus, Hilary's products are made of organic ingredients and minimally processed.

Here's our "dippy dinner" (a fun way to get the kids excited) because most everything is "dip-able" and fun for the kids!



I find that the best strategy for getting MY kids to eat their veggies or try a new dish is to make a FUN and UNIQUE dinner where EVERYONE gets to sample something new and "rate" how they like it. We usually use a 1 - 100 scale (1 = don't care for it and 100 = it's wonderful!).

For this dinner, I prepped a variety of fruits and veggies to go along with Hilary's vegan and allergy-friendly foods. I used:

  • Hilary's Original Veggie Bites 
  • Hilary's Mediterranean Veggie Bites 
  • Hilary's Broccoli Casserole Veggie Bites 
  • Hilary's Traditional Herb Millet Medley 
  • Veggies and fruit that make a rainbow! Like peppers, carrots, cucumbers and grapes 
  • Roasted sweet potato fries - which my kids already love 
  • Olives - mainly for mama :) 
Look at these fun little veggie dippers. Great for kid-hands and mouths :)



Doesn't this look like a bowl of goodness? I put out Hilary's Traditional Herb Millet Medley as a side dish, but I could seriously just plop some hummus on top of this and call it a meal -- all for myself!



We also tried a variety of Hilary's dipping sauces including:

  • Balsamic Thyme 
  • Ranch Chia 
  • Beet Vinaigrette 
  • Apple Fennel 
The verdict?

I loved them all, especially the vinegary taste of the Balsamic Thyme and Beet Vinaigrette. Plus, I can't believe they're all safe for Little Guy with food allergies to dairy, eggs, nuts and sesame. He hasn't really liked any of my homemade salad dressing attempts. So, I was happy to just pop open the caps of these pre-made and clean ingredient dressings.


This was honestly an easy and quick dinner to pull together. I only had to wash and cut the veggies, and roast the sweet potatoes. Otherwise, it's just a matter of baking the veggie bites, and warming the herb millet medley on the stove.

Voila!



And as a mom of a child with multiple food allergies, I have to say, I REALLY appreciate healthy and allergy-friendly convenience foods that we can all enjoy. I'm sure you're just as busy this holiday season, and saving time on dinner is a major win!

From our family to yours - happy eating and hope you're enjoying the season!

Thank you to Hilary's for sponsoring this post. I only work with companies that I support and use in our own family. I hope you enjoy hearing about new allergy-friendly products and finds like this!

4 comments:

Diane said...

These veggies and dips look so good! And I simply love your family picture 💖

Kathryn @ Mamacado said...

Thanks for the kind words Diane! :)

Anonymous said...

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Kathryn @ Mamacado said...

Ha ha - thanks for your kind words!

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