I swear, my toddlers either eat everything in sight or they live on air. There is no middle ground. So on the days they eat, I try to load them up with as many vegetables as I can. We’ve been lucky. The boys generally like vegetables. Broccoli is one of their favorite foods. They usually like trying new foods and don’t have fits about texture or taste. Still, we have our days. The boys only want to eat donuts and cereal (they are their mother’s sons). No matter what healthy food we offer, they claim they aren’t hungry. Sometimes we need to be a bit more clever with getting vegetables in the boys’ diet.
Earlier this week was one of those days. Since we have a new baby, people have been stopping by to spend time with Eloise. Along with the people come treats: donuts, cookies, birthday cake and pie. Thanks to the sugar snacks, the boys started to refuse to eat dinner. If the food wasn’t 90% sugar, the boys weren’t interested.
Typically, if the boys refuse to eat dinner, I don’t care. If they are hungry, they will eat what we prepared. We don’t offer alternative meals. Either they eat what is on the plate or they don’t eat at all. I never clear their plates from the dinner table until both boys are sleep in bed so it is easy to direct the boys back to the table if they ask for food.
But this time, the reason the boys weren’t eating wasn’t because they weren’t hungry. They were full of sugar and no nutritional food. I was determined to get something healthy in them.
I recalled seeing a post on Instagram that would be perfect solution. If we put down a bowl of applesauce in front of them, there’s a good chance they’ll ask for seconds. So I used that to my advantage. I tossed a handful of spinach in the applesauce and blended until it was smooth(ish). The plain applesauce immediately was way more fun. It was green. It was a little more chunky (because I didn’t pull out the nice food processor). It was something new and different. The boys devoured the applesauce and got a full serving of spinach. An easy way to get more veggies in their diets without any fight.
