Having trouble convincing your kids to swallow a healthy dose of greens each day? Try some of these quick tricks for boosting their veggie intake.

1. Grating is Great
Small mouths like small pieces, and grated food is just one step up from a puree or mash. Kids enjoy eating grated carrot or zucchini as a finger food, or sprinkling it on top of their meals like a topping. If you have a plastic grater you can even get your kids to help prepare their dinner. Mixing it up when you fix it up is easier when the vegetables are grated – they can be hidden in omelettes, burger mixes and fritters. A tasty tomato bolognaise sauce can hide grated onion, zucchini, carrot, broccoli or parsnip.

2. Smooth it Down with Smoothies
Green smoothies are a blended mix of 60% ripe fruit, 40% green vegetables and some water. You can use baby spinach, bok choy, silverbeet, parsley or beetroot leaves. Start with a smaller percentage of green vegetables (about 20%) and gradually work the level up. The sweetness of ripe fruit is dominant, and as the mixture is drinkable it goes down easily. Straws make green smoothies even more enticing for children – they’ll even eat their greens for breakfast this way.

3. Grow it, Know it, Stow it
There’s something about growing food themselves that gets kids interested in at least giving it a taste test. Mung bean sprouts are fast-growing, sweet and crunchy, high in protein and vitamins and can be grown in jars on your kitchen sink. Baby spinach, lettuces and parsley can be grown in small containers on a sunny windowsill. Larger containers on your balcony or deck can support snowpeas or beans. These kid-friendly varieties can be planted, watered, harvested and feasted upon with enthusiasm.

4. Monkey See, Monkey Do
Lead by example with your own healthy eating habits. Do you eat your greens with enjoyment? Talk up the flavour and health value of what you’re eating so that your kids can appreciate what’s in it for them. Get your kids to help you with simple cooking tasks that will start getting them skilled up in the kitchen so they can cook for themselves when they leave home. Experiment together with foods like rice paper rolls and tacos. Sharing mealtimes also encourages your children to copy your eating habits.

5. Fresh Really is Best
When you can, give your kids vegetables that are fresh and organic. Go one step better and provide home-grown vegetables – they seriously taste better. Aside from crispness, sweetness and flavour, home-grown or local organic produce will contain higher levels of nutrients as transport and storage times are reduced.

Author's Bio: 

More information about vegetable gardens for kids can be found at www.growingraw.com.

Trina Cleary is the editor of the Growing Raw Healthy Eating Guide. Copyright: you may freely republish this article, provided the text, author credit, the active links and this copyright notice remain intact.